With water-supply challenges continuing on Cayman Brac, the Water Authority has said it aims to double current capacity by year’s end and expedite plans for its new Bluff Water Works project.
This comes as the authority says it has not been able to satisfy the “high demand for water” of Cayman Brac customers, explaining in a statement issued Friday, 21 April, that this situation has resulted in difficulties meeting the needs of its trucked-water customers.
Earlier this month, the authority said it had limited the amount of trucked water for customers in Cayman Brac because of what it called a “period of extraordinary demand”.
It said that due to a large increase in requests for water over the past two to three months, it would only be delivering 2,000 gallons in order to manage the supply.
Plans to address supply issues
In the Friday statement, the authority said that in the medium term it plans to double the capacity of the main reverse osmosis plant to further increase production capacity before the end of 2023.
It will also continue water-demand management, and accelerate preliminary hydrogeological investigations for the Bluff Water Works project to “develop the new reverse osmosis plant at this site”, and plans to commission the larger facility within the next two to three years.
Due to the high demand, water production plants must be operated continuously with less down time for maintenance, the authority said.
“In order to carry out maintenance to improve the production capacity of the reverse osmosis plants, the plants need to be taken offline. When a plant is offline, the volume of water in the reservoirs decreases. This means that a careful balance needs to be struck between continuing operation of the plant and taking it offline to improve production capacity,” it said.
The authority noted that the dry season has impacted the abstraction well of one of the reverse osmosis plants, requiring very frequent maintenance that, in turn, affects ideal production capacity.
While the supply challenges persist, the authority said in the short term it will increase production capacity and storage, as well as locate and repair water loss on the distribution system.
It will also manage trucked deliveries, encourage conservation, and reduce overall usage.
“These actions will help to alleviate the current strain on the system and build up reserves for a return to normal operation. We are already seeing gradual improvements in our reserves as a result of actions already taken,” it said.
Conserve water
Given the current situation, the Water Authority is urging both trucked and pipeline customers to conserve water wherever possible by such methods as “fixing leaking faucets and cisterns, watering crops during the early morning or late evening, and using water-guzzling appliances conservatively”.
Trucked-water customers, it said, are encouraged to manage their storage and place orders prior to their supply being exhausted.
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