The Tribune

By NATARIO MCKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) loses about $16 million a year in water leakage in New Providence. Its general manager Glen Laville told Tribune Business that the corporation wants to award a non-revenue water reduction contract within the next few weeks. Mr Laville said the corporation looses about 50 per cent of its water in New Providence. According to Mr Laville, $52 million of the $81 million IDB loan was targeted towards non revenue water. Mr Laville said that the non-revenue water contract which would be "substantial" was aimed at cutting those losses in half. "We hope that in the next couple of weeks we are going to be awarding our non-revenue water contract. That will address the water losses. We lose about 50 per cent of our water right now in New Providence. What that's going to do is cut those losses in half. The main problem that we have is leakage." Mr Laville added: "We have a lot of old infrastructure and a lot of leakages underground so it doesn't necessarily surface like the large leaks that you see from time to time as you drive down the road. These leaks that are underground could be going on for years, it may be a smaller amount but over time it ends up being a much larger volume. Right now we lose over 5 million gallons a day and on an annual basis that costs us abut $16 million a year." Mr Laville said that the non-revenue water reduction contract would be for 10 years. "The first five years they have to take it down from whatever level it is down to two and a half million gallons a day so if it's at 5.5 they have to take it down to 2.5, if it's at six they have to take it down to 2.5 and then the final five years will be for them to maintain that reduction. One of the big things is you can get the reduction but maintaining it over a period of time is very difficult," Mr Laville said. Last November, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved an $81 million loan for a project aimed at rehabilitating the Water and Sewerage Corporation's (WSC) water supply and wastewater treatment provision. According to the IDB, "the operation intends to support the WSC in its institutional strengthening activities, reduction of water losses, modernisation, and reform of the water and sanitation sector regulatory framework."