On Wednesday, July 9th, 2014, Member of Parliament for Central and South Eleuthera, Damian Gomez, joined by Deputy Chairman of the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC), Mr. Clay Sweeting (2012 PLP Candidate in North Eleuthera); and Senior Administrator for Central Eleuthera, Charles King were given a tour of the GE Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant located at the defunct American Naval Base site just south of the Governor’s Harbour airport by Area Manager for Water and Sewerage (W&S) Eleuthera, Mr. Anthony Bostwick. This RO plant services customers with potable water in Central Eleuthera, from Windermere Island to the Glass Window bridge.
During an interview with The Eleutheran, in late May 2014, Mr. Bostwick, with optimism and a sense of excitement, revealed that W&S in Eleuthera had received its largest budget in recent history, with two major upgrade projects on tap to address some of the most pressing challenges in water supply on the island currently.
Mr. Bostwick explained at that time, that the three key areas involved in maintaining satisfied customers on island included the production, storage and distribution of water across Eleuthera. The crucial challenge at the Naval Base RO plant, he said, was the fact that because of the state of disrepair of the quartet of 420,000 gallon storage tanks located there, currently only one half of one of those tanks were being utilized, resulting in a storage capacity of 200,000 gallons of water, when it should be closer to 1.7 million gallons. Put more succinctly, the plant’s storage system currently operates at 12% of its capacity.
He further highlighted that a mechanical issue which caused the plant to go down in mid-May, affecting production, would not have been felt by customers if storage capacity was where it should be. With storage capacity so low, new pumps located at the site for optimal distribution cannot be used, without risking the equipment.
Local Eleutherans hard at work under the supervision of SRT, carrying out upgrades to the storage tanks at the RO Plant in Governor’s Harbour that could significantly improve water services in Central Eleuthera. (Photo by Gary Byers)
One of the major projects, a 1.4 million dollar refurbishment of the storage tank system at the Naval Base RO Plant, began works in June 2014, by SRT Solutions, a US based company which is partnered with Treasure Coast (acting General Contractor), a Freeport based company, with a three to four month construction schedule.
Gary Byers, Director of Structural Coatings at SRT Solutions, heading up the refurbishment project at the Naval Base joined Mr. Bostwick in leading the tour, showcasing the current works on the storage tanks. He highlighted the state-of-the-art coating being used to reseal the inside of the mammoth holding tanks, a product of Dow Chemicals called Vorastar (HA 6440/HB 6042), as well as the zinc coating to be used on the outside of the holding tanks, which he said had been developed by NASA and tested by Chevron for offshore platforms in salt water.
MP and other members of the tour party, take a look at the inside of the corroded tanks, undergoing repairs.
Bostwick and Byer also pointed out that only local talent had been hired to assist with the refurbishment project to date, with a local team of five working currently, which is expected to expand to fifteen during the next month as work ramps up. One additional supervisor from SRT Solutions is also slated to join the team. Byer also mentioned that with the delays being experienced with the arrival of equipment and materials since the commencement of the project, the completion schedule of three to four months was expected to lengthen.
The second major W&S project planned for the island will focus on the freshwater lens in Lower Bogue, which services North Eleuthera, Harbour Island and Spanish Wells. It is scheduled to have its pumping station upgraded to the tune of $500,000 during the current budget period, with more than two dozen international bidders having visited the plant in recent weeks, said Mr. Bostwick.
