The expansion of the Fort James Reverse Osmosis Plant is complete and is now producing an overall capacity of one million gallons of water per day to meet the increased demands

The expansion, according to the authority will benefit consumers in the areas of North Newgate Street, West of Frairs Hill Road, Mc Kennons, Yorks, Villa, Point, and Fort Road.

And, based on consumption patterns APUA said it could also utilize the resources to feed the Upper Gambles and Clare Hall

During a walk-through of the plant on Monday, Minister of Public Utilities Melford Nicholas said the country has been “crying out” for improvement in the availability and distribution of potable water.

He noted that the traditional means by which APUA has been producing water over the years has been primarily dependent on freshwater sources.

“And I believe the met office would have indicated that we are passing through the driest decade in 175 years, and it means therefore those traditional means of water have vastly depleted, if not eliminated altogether”, the minister told the media.

He said the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party has been on a continual drive to improve the water production capabilities of APUA.

“It started in 2016 with the installation and commissioning of a plant at Pigeon Point and later on that year, the commissioning of another plant at Barnacle Point.

“Subsequent to that, we would have expanded the production capabilities at the plant at Ffryes, and now we are looking at this facility [Fort James] which we have first of all installed 500,000 gallons capabilities and have just recently increased it 100 percent, so we are now capable of producing up to 1 million gallons per day”, the utility minister stated.

According to Nicholas the plant has so far attracted an investment of approximately, US $6 million, which includes the construction of the facility, equipping it, and all of the procurement that has gone into its commissioning.

“And I said so far because there are still enhancements that have to be made at this plant he mentioned.

Additionally, Nicholas said the authority has put measures in place to ensure that in every circumstance it is able to continue to produce water at the highest possible volume at the Fort James plant.

The APUA daily production now stands at nine million gallons capability per day, across all of its plants, and with its standard operating procedure of 85 percent capacity, it should be able to generate 7.5 million gallons of water per day.

This is approximately 500 thousand gallons short of meeting the daily demand of 8 million gallons per day.