THE BARBADOS WATER AUTHORITY (BWA) has to fix more than 20 burst pipes a day on average as it grapples with the island’s ageing network.
General manager Keithroy Halliday revealed the extent of the problem during a Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) meeting Wednesday on the South Coast sewage overflows.
“We do have challenges sometimes because we’re dealing with an ageing distribution system on the potable water side as well,” Halliday told the business owners at Courtyard By Marriott.
“Every month, and it’s increasing, our average burst pipes is 700. We fix 700 burst pipes every month.”
Almost every week, people across the country contact the NATION to report issues with burst pipes and mains.
The most recent was yesterday when people in Wilson Hill, St John, complained of a burst main which had been causing water to freely flow down a road for at least three months.
BWA manager of communications and rapid response, Joy-Ann Haigh, said the matter would be addressed.
Halliday said adequately addressing this level of infrastructural failure was no easy feat as the BWA had about 18 to 21 crews who were constantly responding to the burst pipe problem.
He said this issue required a million-dollar fix and the country had not done the best job of maintaining the century-old network. (AD)
