Grand Bahama Utility Company has teamed with other Freeport businesses to accelerate the return of critical fresh-water services to the island following Hurricane Dorian.

It is partnering with Grand Bahama Shipyard, Bahama Rock, Bahama Industrial Technologies (BIT) and other businesses after the category five storm inflicted heavy damage upon its critical systems.

The water utility has been working to inspect, test, repair and restore all necessary equipment to resume water service from its plant, which extracts and purifies water from the well fields. The ongoing process to restore equipment is enabling the "re-charging" of pipes zone by zone on Grand Bahama.

Grand Bahama Shipyard, with the commitment of its shareholders Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises and the Grand Bahama Port Authority, assisted in providing power generation restoration to the water utility.

It sent Shipyard technicians to help recharge the water plant and pipes, and repair and replace electric motors and pumps, which is accelerating the return of water services.

"We recognise the critical importance of restarting fresh water supply to homes and businesses across Grand Bahama," said Geron Turnquest, general manager for Grand Bahama Utility Company. "We started distribution to the Freeport area moving west from Water Plants Number one and Number 6.

"We have supplied several areas with water for 'sanitary purposes only', and we aim to provide service out to West End this week. Thanks to the assistance from Grand Bahama Shipyard, Bahama Rock, BIT and others, we have been able to accelerate repairs to our equipment and start resuming basic services.

"The utility company is conducting assessments for areas located towards East End and others requiring service. We are inviting more help in this regard, and we hope to build and provide a stronger, better utility service as we work together to rebuild, restore and recover."

"We are all residents of Grand Bahama, we are all in this recovery together, and we know how crucial it is to have basic services like water supply restored as quickly as possible," said Marvin Basden, head of health, safety, security, environment and quality for Grand Bahama Shipyard.

"Fortunately we were able to provide support with critical equipment and technical assistance to our friends at the utility company, and we know how important it is to be able to help quickly restore water services to Grand Bahama while, at the same time, supporting other recovery work across the island."

Grand Bahama Shipyard's employees are supporting multiple recovery efforts, including the distribution of essential aid by The Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), providing mobile light and power generation equipment to east Grand Bahama, and creating "flying squads" of shipyard volunteers to assist where needed, including a 40-person team sent to clean up and clear debris from six impacted schools, ensuring the buildings and classrooms are clean and safe for the return of students.