The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Water & Sewerage Corporation’s outgoing chairman has questioned whether a former minister was responsible for a contractual clause change that allegedly saved BISX-listed Consolidated Water “millions of dollars to the costly detriment of the Bahamian people”.

Bradley Roberts hit back at Phenton Neymour, following the former minister of state for the environment’s assertion that a $50,000 forensic review of the Blue Hills reverse osmosis plant contract was effectively a ‘smokescreen’ for the current Board/government’s failure to tackle the real cause of the ‘red water’ issue.

Poor quality water is plaguing the Corporation and its 50,000-plus New Providence customers, but Mr Neymour slammed the report - which blamed the problem on changes to the Blue Hills plant contract - as a “frivolous excuse”.

Never one to let such an attack slide, Mr Roberts yesterday accused Mr Neymour of trying to “defend the indefensible” through “a lame attempt to address a matter that is clearly over his head”.

The Blue Hills forensic report, produced by Ian Watson of Tampa-based RosTek Associates, attributed changes to the Blue Hills plant contract to facilitate its 67 per cent expansion in 2011 as exacerbating the ‘red water’ problems.

This, the report said, stemmed from alterations that allowed Consolidated Water to supply water of a lower quality/standard. RosTek said the Corporation was aware of the contractual changes, though maybe not the ‘red water’ implications.

Mr Neymour, though, told Tribune Business on Friday that the ‘red water’ issues had nothing to do with the Blue Hills plant and water it produced, and everything to do with the 30 year-old plus rusty, lined pipes in the Corporation’s distribution system. The solution, the former minister suggested, was to continue replacing these aged pipes.

This explanation, though, cut little ice with Mr Roberts, who said of Mr Neymour: “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?”

Mr Roberts said ‘red water’ could be caused by a variety of factors, including old pipes; changes in the water flow direction; the alkalinity of the water produced; and the chloride concentration in the water supply.

He criticised Mr Neymour’s focus on the 30-year old pipes as the ‘red water’ root cause as “asinine and simplistic”, and said: “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 pant 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.”

And Mr Roberts argued that it was “equally damning” that changes to water direction could also cause ‘red water’, given that Mr Neymour and his colleagues all signed off on the main pipe replacement exercises during the former Ingraham administration.

“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.

Questioning why Mr Neymour thought he knew better than the RosTek consultants, he added: “We now know that the former administration had to be clueless of the full impact of the main replacement, and how it tied into the water quality at Blue Hills.

“Now that we are all armed with the facts, it is indeed ludicrous that Mr Neymour is now screaming about an expenditure of less than $50,000 to determine the root cause of the problem, what solutions to employ and in what tandem.

“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 Project and the IDB loan, he would have saved Water & Sewerage millions of dollars, minimised health issues associated with red water and some embarrassment for himself.”

Tribune Business previously revealed how the RosTek report had alleged that BISX-listed Consolidated Water gained “significant” financial benefits after a change to its Blue Hills water plant contract allowed it to supply poorer quality water.

The report alleged that the lower quality supply from Blue Hills, Nassau’s largest reverse osmosis plant, “is certainly a primary reason” for the increase in red water complaints by customers.

The report found that the contract to facilitate the Blue Hills plant’s 2011 expansion, from 6 million gallons of water per day to 10 million gallons, had resulted in the Water & Sewerage Corporation incurring “high” ‘red water ‘mitigation costs.

The RosTek report said: “There are no penalties, financial or otherwise, included in the contract language for failure to meet the minimum water quality requirements.

“For example, the finished water LSI is required to be positive at all times for the original plant. Our preliminary evaluation of the water quality data indicates that, for the most part, this requirement has not been met, and it is our belief that this condition has led directly to the red water problems that have been plaguing Water & Sewerage Corporation for many years.

“The cost of mitigation to Water & Sewerage Corporation has been high, both in remediation measures such as the supply and maintenance of filters for the consumers, but also in staff time, and water lost during the flushing operations.

“Other examples of water quality parameters that have not been met from time to time are the finished water chlorine residual, and the chloride content of the finished water.”