By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The Water & Sewerage Corporation will be seeking a minimum $13m in additional funding to complete the rebuilding of Abaco-based infrastructure that was devastated by Hurricane Dorian.

Adrian Gibson, its executive chairman, yesterday told a forum featuring Caribbean ministers responsible for water that the state-owned utility is seeking $8m for sewerage works that include a new "tertiary level" wastewater treatment plant for Treasure Cay.

That facility will supply the treated wastewater to the Treasure Cay golf course, with the Water & Sewerage Corporation seeking a further $3.6m for distribution system restoration and improvement works on Abaco.

Mr Gibson added that a $15m allocation from an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan to the Government had financed procurement activities related to the reconstruction of water and sewerage systems on Abaco.

“Key total contractual expenditure to date stands at nearly $15m, with the following works done or in progress," he said, describing them as including land clearing; refurbishment of existing pumping stations and related buildings and construction of new buildings; desalination; distribution system restoration; fleet and heavy plant replacements; storage tank replacements and repairs; and sewerage....

“As of today, Water & Sewerage Corporation has been able to restore water supply to all our 11 water supply systems in The Abacos. However, two systems on the mainland and two systems on remote islands/cays are especially challenging, and only still receive supply between the hours of 6am and 10pm.

"Regular power supply at one facility has not yet been restored. However, full-time back-up generation is in place. Two water tanker trucks were also at one point being utilised to tanker water to critical locations on the mainland.”

Recalling the full extent of Dorian's impact, Mr Gibson said two of the Water & Sewerage Corporation's largest wellfields suffered extensive salt water intrusion due to a 30-feet plus feet storm surge. The Marsh Harbour and Treasure Cay wellfields combined produced some two million imperial gallons of water per day.

“The overall initial damage assessment was in the order of $15m to $20m," Mr Gibson added. "Over the last year, with ongoing works by ourselves and independent contractors, and in-depth assessments, we note that that figure has increased by $13m to $15m, and I have indicated to government that we will be seeking more funding in an effort to reconstruct and fully restore Abaco systems.”

Of the 25 Water & Sewerage Corporation employees located in Abaco pre-Dorian, the executive chairman said ten have opted to remain in the Abacos including eight on the mainland and one each on Grand Cay and Moore’s Island. Of the 15 who have opted to relocate, one Sweetings Cay-based staffer was temporarily assigned to the Grand Bahama Utility Company.

Turning to the financial impact, Mr Gibson said: “Pre-Dorian (January through August 2019, Abaco collections were up 14 percent or $254,359. For the months of September, October, November and December revenue was down 71 percent, 48 percent, 68 percent and 58 percent, respectively, for a total of US$1.327m at the end of 2019, or an average of $331,679.43 per month.

“The loss of Water & Sewerage Corporation's second highest revenue generator has greatly impacted our cash flow. Abaco’s cash collection has decreased by 89 percent from $2.117m year-to-date to September 2019 to $225,638 for the same period for 2020."

Mr Gibson added that the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated Water & Sewerage Corporation's cash flow. "There was an overall decrease in cash collection of $15.035m or 31 percent, from $48.759m year-to-date September 2019, to $33.724m for the same period of 2020," he said.

“With the onset of COVID-19, Water & Sewerage Corporation was directed to not disconnect residential customers' accounts. This has resulted in a shortfall of residential customer payments for the period March to September 2020 of $9m. Notably, there is an additional shortfall of $3.6m for commercial customer accounts for the same period or some $12.6m in total.”