Earlier in this newscast we heard from Belize Water Services CEO Martin Greenhalgh who confirmed that the company would be taking the PUC to court over rate increases. Greenhalgh was speaking at a press briefing called to address the water supply problem in Belmopan.
After nearly a week of problems, tonight there are still some residents in the greater Belmopan area who are receiving a less than reliable supply of running water. Most residents were without water over last weekend after heavy rains and flash floods washed away Belize Water Services' mains and contaminated the supply going into their plant. 7NEWS was at this morning's briefing where BWSL executives tried to explain away the water supply problems.
Keith Swift Reporting,
In the company's boardroom BWSL's top three execs: Chief Executive Officer Martin Greenhalgh, Chief Financial Officer Alvan Haynes, and Chief Operations Officer Ray Toombs faced the media. First to speak to was CFO Haynes who from a prepared statement opened with an unabashed apology to customers.
Alvan Haynes, Chief Financial Officer BWSL
"We would like to take this opportunity to apologize to our customers in Belmopan and surrounding areas who have been experiencing disruption of their water supply over the last few days."
And following the apology was an explanation.
Alvan Haynes,
"During the period of July 9th to July 10th Belmopan experienced the heaviest rainstorm in the area in the recent years. This caused 7 inches of rainfall resulting in major flooding which created several major problems for BWS. Several sections of our water mains were washed away or broken. These took time to locate and repair because of the ongoing rainstorm. As a result major water loss was experienced which caused our Belmopan storage reservoir to go dry."
And that according to BWSL is why an estimated 2 thousand customers in the greater Belmopan area have been experiencing problems with their water supply. And while up to tonight some pipes are still running on empty, CFO Haynes maintains BWSL has done and is doing its best to restore service.
Alvan Haynes,
"Things like this will happen and when they happen it is a matter of responding. We have repaired every broken main that we have found within 24 hours. The problem is not just the repairing of the mains. As we have said it is to do with the treatment plant capacity because of the problems with the conditions of the river water going to the treatment plant."
Keith Swift,
Can BWSL look at its customers with a straight face and say that you never anticipated something like this would happen?
Alvan Haynes,
"It's always there; we've got hurricane contingency plans in place. The point is that if anyone's expectation is that we could have flashfloods that break mains in several places and in two hours we would replace all the mains and have the system back up then I think that's unrealistic."
Martin Greenhalgh, Chief Executive Officer BWSL
"No utility in the world can guarantee that."
And CEO Greenhalgh took it a step further saying he understands the frustration but the shortage of water to some areas of Belmopan was a necessary evil.
Martin Greenhalgh,
"Everybody has been getting some water at some point in time. It will just take time and it is difficult sometimes for people to grasp the concept that with telecommunications and with power you got a switch to put it back online but with water it takes a long time."
"At any point in time we could have provided everybody with water. We could have done that very very fast but the quality of that water would be substandard to the standards that we believe we have to meet."
"It is frustrating. There is no question about it and I sympathize entirely with the customers in Belmopan for the inconvenience that was caused. But the inconvenience would be a lot more severe had we not taken a more proactive careful decision to bring supply back on line. That is the balance we have to strike here because yes turn on the water by all means but we have to be careful since there are other significant health issues at stake with water. Therefore we have to take a balanced approached at his. It is frustrating. You know people have a right to be frustrated and be angry but at the same time we have to protect them when we are bringing service back online after such an incident."
And BWSL says the effect of any future flooding in the area should be mitigated by a $1.4 million upgrade to their plant in Belmopan. That will be in October…but today in the boardroom there were no easy answers or quick fixes for those who just want their water back.
As part of its $1.4 million upgrade to the Belmopan plant, BWSL says it ordered the parts two months ago and they should be installed by October. BWSL adds that for the last twelve months it has been searching for additional water sources in Belmopan and have found a suitable well in Teakettle village.