The Antigua Public Utilities Authority has a major challenge on hand; the
replacement of the old cast-iron pipes, through which much of the water reaches
homes and businesses on Antigua.
According to Utilities Minister Melford Nicholas, the cost for replacing these old
pipes will be astronomical. He explained that there are some 37 miles of such pipes
underground, which make up as much as eighty percent of the distribution pipes in
the APUA’s system.
“APUA had started replacing these pipes with PVC pipes some years ago. It was
however discovered that these pipes were vulnerable to earth movement caused by
periods of rainfall, followed by periods of extreme dry weather. Under these
conditions, these PVC pipes cracked and developed leaks. Since 2016, APUA
moved to using High Density Polyethylene (HDP) pipes which are more resilient
and less prone to leaks,” he further explained.
Minister Nicholas revealed that the cost to replace the old pipes with the HDP
pipes would be significant, however, APUA must make the investments. “To
remove and replace ten miles of pipes, (roughly one third) will cost some $40
million. This is going to be an ongoing project running over several years. There
are lots of these pipes underground, lots to be replaced, but we are still committed
to dealing with the urgent need to make water available to every household, every
day,” he remarked.
He disclosed that APUA has to increase production of water, as the seven million
gallons daily production is still roughly three million gallons short of the daily
demand for water. Under these circumstances, the focus is to increase the
production from the current reverse osmosis plants, as well as to add new
production capacity from the new plant at Bethesda, which will come on line in
short order.
The utilities minister also spoke of a need to upgrade the switching system that
turns on and off the various valves, from the current manual, to a more efficient
automated system. Along with replacing the antiquated pipes, replacing these
manual systems is another area of concern for the authority.
