NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (MARCH 26, 2014) – The Nevis Water Department (NWD) in collaboration with the Nevis Island Administration’s (NIA) Ministry of Communication and Works has activated a Water Demand Management schedule.
The NWD has seen an increase in the consumption of water on Nevis as a result of the dry season. With the high demand, the volumes of water in the island’s reservoirs are currently low and as such some parts of the island have been affected by low water pressures. The Water Demand Management schedule has been implemented to alleviate the strain on the NWD’s network.
Permanent Secretary in the NIA’s Ministry of Communication and Works, Ernie Stapleton, has solicited the support of residents in the ministry’s effort to be proactive with regard to its Water Demand Management Programme.
“We are currently experiencing a prolonged dry period on the island of Nevis. This is normally our dry period…We have been monitoring the water levels in the reservoirs and we noticed that there is an increase in the demand for water,” he said.
Manager of the Nevis Water Department, Mr. Roger Hanley explained that the NWD monitors the reservoirs’ levels daily and has seen a decrease in the capacities that the reservoirs normally hold. He appealed to the general public to use water conservation methods as much as possible.
“There are some practices like the watering of flowers at early dusk or in the evenings to avoid the rapid transpiration, the heavy evaporation from the sunlight during the day. We also have the use of rain water from cisterns. Persons can use their catchments to water the plants to assist with the situation…
“Other related water activities may include the washing of large loads when it comes to the using of washing machines and the general use, domestic use of water. This has to do with washing of utensils…There are tendencies for persons to have long showers and over exaggerated long showers so we just want to appeal to the general public to take this into consideration,” he said.
Hanley thanked the general public for its understanding and advised residents to call the Nevis Water Department at 469-5324 during regular office hours or use the emergency numbers 763-5319 and 665-9061 to report all leaks.