The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Testing by the Water & Sewerage Corporation has found that 86 percent of New Providence private wells are contaminated by bacteria and present a potential health hazard, it has been revealed.

An Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report, prepared for the $100m financing it will provide to overhaul the Corporation’s water and sewerage infrastructure, disclosed that testing of a 400-strong private well sample also found that 61 percent - some 244 - also contained e-coli, a bacteria that can cause stomach, gut, urinary tract and other infections.

“Water & Sewerage Corporation conducted testing of over 400 private wells in New Providence, and found that 86 percent contained total coliform and 61 percent contained E.coli.,  increasing the risk of exposure to contamination to the population that currently obtains water from private wells,” the IDB’s assessment of the project’s social and environmental benefits warned.

The findings suggest that as many as 344 of the New Providence private wells tested were contaminated by a form of bacteria potentially harmful to humans. While there is no suggestion that owners use them for drinking water, the findings provide an insight into one of the reasons for why the Water & Sewerage Corporation may be pushing to “set property taxes” on private wells.

Robert Deal, the Water & Sewerage Corporation’s general manager, alluded to the findings in an e-mailed response to Tribune Business where he voiced concern about the “proliferation” of private wells, especially on New Providence, and the potential health hazards that may result due to contamination of the water table and underground resources.

“This usage, in areas where the Water & Sewerage Corporation has quality and reliable service, poses public health, national security and sustainability risks to the country and the utility,” he said.

“In the preparatory work of the current corporate business plan, the Water & Sewerage Corporation effected the testing of several hundred private wells on the island of New Providence. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, the findings reveal substantial contamination of the New Providence ground water resources, undoubtedly impacted by the pervasive use of septic tanks and the unregulated disposal and discharge of effluents.”

Tribune Business yesterday revealed that “setting property taxes on homes that use private wells” is one of the proposals contained in the Water & Sewerage Corporation’s 2023-2028 corporate business plan, and doubtless one of the objectives was to provide economic incentives for owners to switch back to the state-owned utility’s supply on health grounds as well as generate badly-needed revenue.

However, Leon Lundy, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for the Water & Sewerage Corporation, told this newspaper that “no formal decision” on whether to implement this proposal or any of the plan’s other recommendations such as increased consumer tariffs had been taken with discussions still “in the early phases”.

Prime Minister Philip Davis KC, alive to the potential political repercussions from talk of any new and/or increased taxes and price rises for Bahamians, then went further than Mr Lundy by ruling out implementation of these reforms and branding them as non-starters (see other article on Page 1B).

And private well homeowners, according to an IDB report, account for a significant water market share of 39 percent on New Providence and 30 percent in the Family Islands. Any move that mandates they are required to pay extra for the privilege of having a well is likely to receive push back, and be viewed as anti-competitive, anti-freedom of choice and trying to create a government monopoly.

“The regulatory framework for water extraction from private wells and wastewater discharge is outdated, contributing to over-abstraction and improper sewage discharges, which lead to seawater intrusion and pollution of the freshwater aquifer, posing urgent public health risks,”the IDB’s social and environmental project assessment added.

“Despite ongoing projects to improve water infrastructure, many areas, particularly in the Family Islands, still lack access to piped water supply. The overall estimated level of potable water supply coverage was 65 percent for all of Water & Sewerage Corporation’s service area in 2023.

“In 2023, piped water supply was 61 percent in New Providence and 78 percent in the Family Islands. Residents in these regions often rely on costly or less reliable sources such as bottled water, private rainwater tanks and private wells, the depths of which determine the quality of water.”

The IDB report said the first financing phase, valued at a total $50m, will allocate a combined $11m to expanding the Water & Sewerage Corporation’s New Providence distribution network and improving access to potable water in areas of southern New Providence, such as Carmichael Road and Cowpen Road, as well as addressing dilapidated sewerage infrastructure.

Some $8m will be spent on that effort, with the $3m balance dedicated to enhancing the Corporation’s wastewater and sewerage treatment systems including its lift stations. The IDB report highlighted the dire, and rapidly deteriorating, quality of many New Providence lift stations including the one located in Rawson Square in downtown Nassau right by Parliament.

“This lift station is the oldest in the system,” the IDB report said of the Rawson Square location. “Gravity mains date back to 1927. It receives inflow from Vista Marina, Big Pond, Cruise Port lift stations and wastewater from cruise ships before flowing into Malcolm Park Lift Station.

“This lift station is located in Downtown Nassau, a central business and cultural hub area, housing government buildings, historic sites, shops and restaurants in New Providence. According to Water & Sewerage Corporation, it collects wastewater from approximately 20,000 homes in the surrounding area and it is connected to Malcom Park, which performs deep injection of wastewater into the aquifer.

“This lift station has had several issues in the past with overflows due to pump failure. The last one was recorded in November and caused the entire lift stations system to overflow into the street of the downtown area. Its existing well chamber presents significant deterioration in cement walls and it has infiltration issues. The gravity main is made of asbestos cement,” the report continued.

“The pumping system has a lack of capacity that, coupled with infiltration, leads to the existing pumps working overtime. The current system does not include solids separation, leading to issues of pump obstruction and failure.

“There is no remote monitoring installed. The department in charge of sewage systems performs a daily inspection. However, issues with the lift station operation are most times detected once the system is saturated and overflowing into the streets.”

The situation at the Water & Sewerage Corporation’s other lift stations is not much better. Referring to the location at Elizabeth Estates, which services 5,000 homes and is connected to the Fox Hill wastewater treatment plant, the IDB report said: “This lift station is one of the oldest in the system.

“It is the last lift station that receives inflow from St Andrews, Treasure Cove, Twynam 1, 2 and 3, Yamacraw 1, 2, 3 and 4, Star States, Leeward East and Palm Cay lift stations before flowing into Fox Hill wastewater treatment plant.

“This lift station has had several issues in the past with overflows due to pump failure. The last one was recorded in January and caused the entire lift station’s system to overflow. Its existing well chamber presents significant deterioration in cement walls and it has infiltration issues,” the report continued.

“The pumping system has a lack of capacity that, coupled with infiltration, leads to the existing pumps working overtime. The current system does not include solids separation, leading to issues of pump obstruction and failure.”

As for the Malcolm Park lift station, located between the two Paradise Island bridges and which serves 30,000 homes, the IDB report said: “The lift station has several structures that are out of order, including a treatment plant that during the field visit was identified as non-operational due to issues in its construction phase.

“As it was indicated, during high tide seawater comes in through the building structure, and it needs to pump out water to the well chambers. There are also fuel tanks unused that should be removed from the premises, as well as pipes, valves and other equipment around the area....

“Since the system has no available bypass system, whenever there is pump failure Water & Sewerage Corporation needs to call a crane service to remove the pump, while shutting off the lift stations that connect to Malcolm Park.”