A GIU release coming out of the Management Coordination Agency (DMCA)’s Annual Hurricane Conference on Thursday, May 3, reports that Manager of the island’s water system Emile Dubbery sounded an alarm that there is only capacity to store a half a day’s supply of water for the Lookout and St. Johns area.
Sharing during the Annual Hurricane Conference on Thursday, Dubbery says Montserrat Utilities Ltd. (MUL) has a more than adequate supply for the Salem and St Peter’s areas but for the North of the island there is not enough for an entire day.
“The population has increased in the North but the storage tank at Dick Hill has not been increased to accommodate the growth,” Dubbery added. He implored the DMCA and the Public Works Department to support their application to fund a larger tank and help reduce the island’s vulnerability.
Trevor Howe from the Ministry of Health and Billy Darroux, Director of the DMCA said the public needs to have at least two to three day’s supply of water and medicines per person per household on hand. Darroux added this should also be the case for people who will need to go to a shelter.
“We must try to be as self-sufficient as possible,” Howe said.
Last year MUL was forced to initiate a water rationing system to manage the supplies ahead of an approaching storm.
The Water Supply Manager confirmed to TMR that since the passage of hurricane Earl in 2010, ‘continued requests have been made to the Ministry of Communications and Works (and Government) for the upgrade’, to ease the serious concern.
Dubbery reportedly said, “We need funds to construct the tank.” He added that MUL also has limited funds available to handle pre and post disaster emergencies. There is also concern about the ability to access water source areas, which are vulnerable to landslides and flooding and pose added risk to supplying the entire island with water continually. MUL says it is also in need of a reliable communication system.
