GEORGE TOWN, Exuma, The Bahamas – Minister of State for the Environment the Hon. Phenton Neymour announced that the Government will install a reverse osmosis (RO) plant in Williams Town to meet the present and future needs of the Little Exuma settlement.
“Williams Town is a settlement of approximately 70 homes who receive water through typical groundwater wells,” Minister Neymour said, during a tour of the settlement on February 27, 2011.
“We gave approval to the Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) last week to install a reverse osmosis plant at this site, with six 5,000-gallon storage tanks.
“Minister Neymour was a member of a delegation to the island led by Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham. They visited other sites for infrastructural development, such as the old naval base site and the dock in George Town and the Ferry Bridge that connects Great and Little Exuma. Also a part of the delegation were Minister of State for Land and Local Government the Hon. Byran Woodside, senior government officials, outgoing Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China Hu Dingxian and representatives of the China Harbour Engineering Company. Minister Neymour noted that WSC had already started the preliminary groundwork of the project and that two of the tanks were already on site.
“There will be four more tanks delivered to this site to provide reverse osmosis to the residents who have been plagued – as some of you who are here today can witness – with the smell of hydrogen sulphide problems due to the pond nearby,” he added. Minister Neymour said the mains have already been installed directly to the homes and all that remains is for the connection from the RO plant.
He added that the WSC would have to install two deep disposal wells to dispose of the brine coming from the plant, as well as a seawater well for the extraction of the water.
“We anticipate to award the contract within the next month and the construction will take three to five months before completion; so we expect the project to take about six months for the residents to receive the water.”
By ERIC ROSE
Bahamas Information Services
