THE BARBADOS WATER AUTHORITY (BWA) will be working around the clock to repair a 16-inch burst main at Searles/Woodbourne that apparently is the reason why customers in Christ Church and St Philip have been without water for the past three days.
Described as one of the “worst burst mains”, engineers at the BWA unearthed the massive leak yesterday morning while carrying out an investigation of the entire system linked to the Hampton Pumping Station, to determine why the water levels had not returned to normal, following repairs to the pump last Thursday.
Taking the media on a tour of the waterlogged area yesterday evening, Minister of Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams lamented that millions of gallons of water had already been lost before the leak was detected.
As a result, he said management had taken a decision to shut off the water supply at 7:30 last night in order to give customers time to store water. However, he pointed out that it would take time to repair the main since the wooded area had to first be cleared of trees and bush, then the water which had created a large swamp had to be pumped off before work crews could access the main.
“It is not going to be an easy fix,” the minister said as he warned that “to actually do the fix is going to cause significant disruption to service. It cannot be avoided”.
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