APUA to scrap plans to erect an R/O Plant at Bethesda

APUA will not proceed with plans to erect a new reverse osmosis plant at
Bethesda as it had announced previously.
Instead, according to General Manager, John Bradshaw, the authority will erect the
plant at Crabbes Peninsula to replace an aging plant already at that site.
According to Bradshaw, the move is in the best interest of both APUA and the
public in Antigua.
“The present plant at Crabbes was constructed back in 1988 by Enerserv, which
tells you just how old this plant is. Like all engines, it has an economic life and a
production life. The plant has surpassed its economic life and it is getting more and
more expensive just to keep it running. Reverse osmosis plants consume much
energy and this plant is no longer economical to operate. What we plan to do is to
phase it out over a period of time. Meanwhile, the plant we intended to erect at
Bethesda, we will now erect at Crabbes,” the general manager told reporters last
Friday.
According to Bradshaw erecting the new plant at Crabbes makes economic and
operational sense. “This aging plant which has become inefficient and unreliable
so we have decided to phase it out as this makes much more economic sense. This
also gives us a quicker turn-around time as all the necessary infrastructure is
already at Crabbes. If we were to build these at Bethesda it would have added
several million dollars to the overall cost of the project,” he explained.
He added that Bethesda would require new tanks, distribution systems and feeder
system etc. while these are already in place at Crabbes. “If we go ahead with the
plant at Crabbes it would at an estimated $20 million to the overall cost of the
project,” Bradshaw further explained.
Overall, Bradshaw said APUA aims to have an additional seven million gallons of
water to the system by the end of 2025.