Nicholas sips clean desalinated water from RO plant/ Photo by APUA

The completed Ffryers Beach Reverse Osmosis Plant will be formally handed over to the Antigua and Barbuda government on September 24.

Government Director General of Communications Maurice Merchant announced the handover during Thursday’s post-Cabinet briefing after Public Utilities Minister Melford Nicholas updated Cabinet on efforts to improve the country’s water supply.

Merchant said the plant was completed through continued cooperation between the governments of Antigua and Barbuda and Japan.

The facility will become another part of the national water-production network as the government expands its reliance on desalination to address drought conditions and the reduced availability of surface water.

APUA previously reported that national water production had reached approximately 11 million imperial gallons daily, compared with 3.5 million gallons per day in 2014.

However, Merchant said production has since fallen to between eight million and nine million imperial gallons daily because of the current drought and the absence of potable water production from Potworks Dam.

The government’s water programme also includes additional storage facilities, upgraded pumping equipment and the replacement of ageing pipelines.

Cabinet has separately approved APUA’s acquisition of four water-storage tanks at Coolidge with a combined capacity of approximately two million gallons.

Merchant did not state the production capacity of the Ffryers Beach plant or indicate when it would begin supplying customers following the handover.

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Ffryers Beach Reverse Osmosis Plant to Be Handed Over on September 24.