WA speeds up plans for 2nd plant on the Brac – Cayman Islands Headline News

(CNS): The Water Authority has said it is accelerating preliminary hydrogeological investigations for a new reverse osmosis (RO) plant on Cayman Brac’s Bluff as one measure to relieve water shortages on that island, especially during dry season, as is the case now. This long-term solution is expected to take two to three years to complete.

In a release, the WA said that these investigations are the next critical step to determine the design of the abstraction and disposal wells to develop the new RO plant on the Bluff, which will be larger than its West End plant. While the commissioning and construction of the new plant are underway, the WA will continue extending piped water throughout the island, something that Brackers have wanted for many years.

The WA said that in the medium term, it plans to double the capacity of the West End RO plant before the end of 2023 to further increase production capacity.

In addition, it will continue water demand management, though the authority admitted that it had discovered leaks in the system during seasonal high demand for piped and trucked water. Without saying how much water had been lost, the WA said that “further analysis indicates that unaccounted for water on the distribution system also increased”.

In the meantime, the WA said it was “taking several actions to increase production capacity, increase storage, locate and repair water loss on the distribution system, manage trucked deliveries, encourage conservation, and reduce overall usage”.

This will help deal with the current water shortage on the Brac and build up reserves for a return to normal operation. “We are already seeing gradual improvements in our reserves as a result of actions already taken,” the authority said.

Explaining the current shortage, the WA said that because of the high demand during dry season and the leaks losing an unspecified amount of water, the West End plant had to be operated continuously, which meant that there was little time for maintenance. The WA said it was balancing the need for maintenance with the increased demand.

Also, the WA said that the dry season had impacted the abstraction well from which brackish groundwater is pumped to the surface before it is desalinated through the RO plant. The WA did not say if this was worse than previous dry seasons, but explained that the prefilters which treat the water from this well had to be changed frequently, resulting in additional downtime of the plant, which affected capacity. “This challenge will be addressed by taking actions to improve the performance of the well,” the WA stated.

Apologising to customers for not meeting their water demands or providing the level of service they expect, the WA asked both trucked and piped customers to continue to do their best to conserve water where possible.

“Simple measures can make a big difference, such as fixing leaking faucets and cisterns, watering crops during the early morning or late evening and using water-guzzling appliances conservatively,” the WA said. “By taking these small steps, we can work together to help ensure that our water resources are available for everyone. Trucked water customers are encouraged to manage their storage and place orders prior to their storage supply being exhausted.”

Saying it was working hard to resolve the situation and was committed to ensuring that the Brac has access to safe and reliable water, the WA promised to provide updates during the return to a normal state of operation on the Brac.