Water waste | Over 10 days of steady flow affects John’s Hole, courtyard a muddy mess
More than two weeks after a major water leak started beneath the newly constructed road in John’s Hole on Tortola, work has now commenced to resolve the issue.
The water has muddied the unpaved yard of the Magistrate’s Court that is located in the area. The constant water flow has also formed a pool in the lower-lying section of the courtyard.
“It is obviously a leak because the water is clean. Our main pipework is about three to four feet down so no matter what they had put there in terms of heavy equipment, it could not damage that line. So it would have had to be a connection line going to service a customer,” Director of the Water & Sewerage Department Pearline Scatliffe-Leonard told BVI News.
New road to be impacted
She said the road surface would have to be dug into to get to the bottom of the issue; adding that works commenced on Wednesday.
She explained: “We think that the roller maybe did some kind of damage up there. But we would have to reopen the road to see where the leak is coming from [as] it could be a number of things that caused the leak.”
While Scatliffe-Leonard admitted that the major leak meant money-loss for the department, she was unable to provide any specific figure.
She said there were no reports of water shortage for persons in the immediate surroundings but noted that the broken pipeline “would impact folks in the area”.
“We are going to do what we have to do to eliminate the leaks because it’s a cost,” she told BVI News.
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Can anything be done to a high standard in this country?
The water and sewage department needs a huge shakedown..
Wherever they do works;
The area is never cleared up, old pipes and parts left by the side of the road. Wherever you drive you can see them littered everywhere.
The road surface is never finished and repaired and makes it dangerous for road users. Look at that concrete repair that’s left on Ridge road by spring gut.. I realise some traffic drove through it while still wet but it needs rectifying asap.
The preparation, laying of the pipes and materials used needs to be done correctly.. not just dig a trench and throw it in and put soil back on top.
We all see these and other problems daily with W&S, just observing them as they go about their days work.
Why can’t the Managers and those responsible see it too ?
They backfill with the same mud they dug out or take it from the side of the hill, digging out people land without permission. Look at the area going pass bouncers bar pariquita bay
Devon, totally agree with your observations. Water lines should be laid on bedding sand at the proper slope and backfilled with clean material by certified personnel. Poor technique(s) can contaminate sections of water system and even the whole system. Do water technicians have to acquire minimum certifications? How often is water system tested? Are consumers/customers notified when the system fail a test, 2 tests……etc? Are dead end lines flushed periodically (ideally water should circulate completely in the system)? Is burial/warning tapes place atop buried water lines?
@Devon, agree with your observations regarding the laying of water lines. Indeed, water lines should be laid at the proper slope, on bedding sand, with thrust blocks as needed, backfilled with clean material (free of rocks, other debris) and with warning tape placed atop the pipe. Are water technicians certified? Applying poor techniques can contaminate the water system? How often is the water system tested? Are consumers/customers notified of system positive test(s)? Are dead end lines flushed periodically (water in distribution should flow continuously)? What is the average response time to reported water leaks? What is the maximum time allotted to respond to water leak? How long does it take to repair a reported water leak?
School of Hard Knocks Engineer, no my friend you are running on high test gas. Sounds like you sat through a few water system operations classes or have been around water system repair and maintenance. Some free guidance for WSD.
Water is life and it should not be wasted. The BVI is a water-challenged territory; its primary water source is desalination with a high production cost. As such, every reported or identified leak should be repaired immediately. The Water and Sewage Dept. should have a rapid repair response team ( Tiger Team) to arrest reported water leaks. It is gross negligence to let scare, precious water run for days or weeks on end. The BVI is a small territory so leaks should be quickly identified. If you (residents) see a leak, report it; it’s the national interest to do so. The WSD should publish a water leak hot line to call 7/24/365. A number does little good if the response is poor.
Common on Tye and Pearline you can do better than this. Mr. Premier ah wah yu sai! It is your ultimate responsibility. WSD loses revenue with leaks and incur additional expenses to produce the lost water. Lost should be a primary concern for WSD. It knows (or it should know) how many gallons (acre-ft) is inputted in the distribution system and how many gallons were billed. A huge delta should set off alarm bells and action.
The boss tries her best but her staff are incompetent….bottom line
Then their incompetent A**es will be on the unemployement line.
I know one reason why W&S never replace the road surface is because 2-3 months later they dig in the same place to repair another leaky pipe.
I need to know the educational attainment of ALL employees within this department!
Because its quite obvious,to me, that there’s an educational barrier, of sorts,within this department and a shakeup from TOP TO BOTTOM, is the only solution, for consummate services!
The problem lies in the middle tier. They’ve been a waste since adam. If they don’t want to work they should retire them.
they could just pave it