Acting Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) CEO Kelvin Romain says the authority will continue to look at its infrastructure and maintenance in the hope of preventing collapses like the one which occurred with the 36-inch transmission line at the Godineau Bridge, near Mosquito Creek.
“I was instructed by the board to look at all of our infrastructure in terms of any possible instances of faults. So, in short order, we will be looking at that and looking to address it,” Romain said at a news conference WASA’s St Joseph headquarterson Friday.
He said the board recently approved a maintenance plan that is about to be implemented.
Romain said, “So, we intend to continue and we intend to continue our assessment of our infrastructure with the intent of preventative maintenance instead of reactive maintenance.”
He said, however, that the outer rack which collapsed was the problem and not the pipeline.
“Understandably, it’s made of steel, and is in close proximity to the sea. So we will be getting some sea blast there,” he said.
When asked if there would not be a thrust to look at similar structures, he said that one was particularly unique, as it travels about 100 metres across the water.
“We don’t have many structures such as that,” he noted.
Romain said crews created another passageway for the pipeline on the old bridge on Mosquito Creek, constructing 120 metres of intricate pipeline. He said it was a very technical job for the crew. WASA also conducted a leak test on the new pipeline.
Last night, there was minimal water pressure going through, which should have been gradually increased. He hoped that before the end of the weekend there would be a normalisation of the supply.
He was unable to give the cost of the repairs so far, as they were still ongoing. But he also noted that there would be an added cost associated with providing a truckborne supply to affected areas.
