Great Bay:--- The good news of the arrival of the second stage and the main pump of the first Seawater Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant was reason for Minister Cornelius De Weever, responsible for production and distribution of water to visit, the Yellow Building at the Harbor Cargo where the Pointe Blanche water plant will be housed.
Two new Desalination Plants will be built in the Yellow Building. Construction of the first new plant will start as soon as most of the equipment is on the island. The second stage, first to arrive on the Island, is an essential part of the new drinking water Plant as it will further desalinate the product water from the first stage to produce drinking water, well within the quality specifications. The first stage and other essential filtering equipment will be shipped soon and completion of the plant is foreseen in August 2013. The second plant will be built in 2016.
Production of drinking water will start once feed water is supplied to the plant. The design of the seawater intake and feed water supply system is in an advanced stage. The construction time for the feed water system may take may take longer than the actual time to build the plant. The decision to choose for the alternative open sea intake was necessary as deep wells near the building cannot produce the required volume of feed water.
The plants are built by Air-Fin/Seven Seas Water as described in the Water Supply Agreement Addendum II signed in December 2012 by Government and Air-Fin/Seven Seas Water. The plants are for the production of desalinated water which will be further distributed as drinking water by GEBE. Each Plant is designed for a maximum production of 3700 m3 per day. To compare: One typical household consumes half of a cubic meter per day.
The construction of the two water storage tanks, uphill in Pointe Blanche, reported on last week, are also included in this agreement.