The Tribune

PLP chairman Bradley Roberts said he is “not surprised” that the former Minister of State for the Environment Phenton Neymour has “jumped to defend the indefensible” over red water problems with the Water and Sewerage Corporation.

On Friday Mr Neymour said the root cause of the “red water” problems plaguing the Water and Sewerage Corporation’s 50,000-plus New Providence customers were the old, rusting lined pipes installed over 30 years ago. He, therefore, called on the government and the board at Water and Sewerage (WSC) to replace the pipes.

However, Mr Roberts said that Mr Neymour’s comments prove that he is once again speaking on matters that are above his “pay grade”.

“His comments speak to one of two things; he was and is still ignorant about the reverse osmosis process, specifically its treatment and transmission; or was he the one responsible for the removal of the critical clause that saved the contractor millions of dollars to the costly detriment of the corporation and Bahamian people?

“Quite clearly his cavalier and ‘know it all’ attitude must have been good cover for, or instrumental in, formulating the decision not to seek independent opinion on the impact of removing the water quality clauses from the Blue Hills expansion contract.

“Mr Neymour must also be called out on his attempt to rewrite history, by his continuous claims of engineering prowess and leading many initiatives at WSC, where at the time of his departure, outside of his union activities, he was not even a member of a decision-making team,” Mr Roberts claimed.

The WSC chairman also added that Mr Neymour as an engineer “or even a person who does his homework”, must know any belief that New Providence’s red water issues can only be attributed to aging pipes is false.

“Red water may be caused by the following factors; age of pipes, changes in water flow direction, alkalinity of the water (LSI metric) Langelier Saturation Index, and chloride concentration in the water supply. Former Minister Neymour’s assertion that the ‘old, rusting lined pipes installed over 30 years ago’ are the root cause of the red water problems, is asinine and simplistic; given the fact that he admits the aged pipes were in place long before WSC signed the initial Blue Hills water contract, hence the criticality of the alkaline and chlorine post treatment clauses in the first instance.

“It was precisely because of the age of the pipes, that under my watch as Minister of Works and Utilities, the independent engineers insisted that the water quality (LSI) clause be inserted in the original Blue Hills Reverse Osmosis Plant contract. The alkalinity or LSI specification was inserted as a post treatment activity to reduce the aggressiveness of the reverse osmosis water as it is transmitted to homes. Thanks to Phenton ‘Know It All’ Neymour, we now know that at least one member of the decision making team – a WSC trained engineer no less – was not aware of the critical impact of removing the clause.

“What is even more telling is that another documented cause of red water is ‘changes in water flow direction’ through the transmission pipes. This is equally damning for Mr. Neymour and his colleagues, as they also were the authors or authorized signatories for the main replacement exercises done under his watch, which he is bragging about. Water flow directional changes are features of pipe replacement and when combined with ‘non-treated’ water the problem was no doubt worsened.”

Mr Roberts said it is also “ludicrous” that Mr Neymour is now screaming about an expenditure of less than $50,000 to determine the root cause of the problem.

“If either he or his substantive minister, advisors or colleagues had deemed fit to spend the $50,000 before signing two massive contracts, namely the New Providence Road Improvement and the IDB-WSC Loan, he would have saved WSC millions of dollars, minimized health issues associated with red water and some embarrassment for himself. With regards Neymour’s claims to his track record versus mine – I will leave that alone the record speaks for itself and I will not compare myself to a Jr Minister who has constantly demonstrated that he is in over his head and clueless.

“As promised the Consultant’s Forensic Report on the red water issue will be made available shortly on the Water and Sewerage Corporation’s website for all to see and to make their own determinations on the role(s) played by Mr Neymour, his colleagues and others. Finally I invite the public to compare the vast world-wide experience of the experts who undertook the Forensic Review and compare them to the experience of Phenton ‘Know It All’ Neymour and to draw the logical conclusion,” he added.