The Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) has reported a significant decrease in water-related complaints, thanks to a considerable improvement in the availability of potable water. ‘

The daily provision of water has surpassed the 12 million gallon mark, with 7 million gallons being produced through the process of Reverse Osmosis (R/O), and the rest sourced from water reserves accumulated in different sources such as dams, reservoirs, and aquifers.

This achievement is a significant milestone in providing a steady and reliable water supply to the citizens.

On Thursday, government spokesperson, Ambassador Lionel Hurst, announced in a post-Cabinet press briefing that the water crisis, which had plagued the country for the past decade, was largely due to a prolonged drought.

However, the situation has improved significantly due to higher-than-average rainfall in October and February.

This has resulted in an increase in the amount of stored water in dams, aquifers, and tanks, despite the fact that APUA has added reverse osmosis water production plants in recent years.

Hurst explained that APUA’s water policies were built on the premise of 60/40, that is, sixty percent of water produced by RO plants and forty percent from stored water sources.

However, this formula was disrupted by the prolonged drought over the last ten or more years.

The recent rainfall has filled up the reservoirs and aquifers, resulting in more water being made available to homes, businesses, hotels, and institutions.

As a result, there has been a marked decline in complaints made to APUA regarding water.

Hurst expressed his gratitude to the Almighty for sending sufficient rain in October and February that has somewhat disappeared the water crisis.

However, Hurst noted that there are still issues with the distribution of water, as many of the pipes are the old cast-iron pipes laid some eighty years ago.

APUA has embarked on a programme to replace the aging pipes, and assistance has been sought from the Chinese government in this regard.

Two engineers from China will soon be visiting the country to conduct a study to determine what is needed and make recommendations to APUA and the Chinese government.