More Water Storage for Victoria Hospital

Contact: John Emmanuel

Friday, November 23, 2001 - The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Planning, on Friday, November 23, officially commissioned a study that will address the water storage needs of Victoria Hospital and the proposed new hospital.

The project, which will see the construction of a new increased capacity reservoir for Victoria Hospital forms part of a wider OECS Emergency Recovery Management Project being financed by the World Bank.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Human Services, Family Affairs and Gender Relations Marcia Philbert Jules explained that the project came out of lessons learnt after Tropical Storm Debbie battered the island in 1995.

“We were without water in many areas of the country for several days and Victoria Hospital has the capacity to store water equivalent to two days usage.  So it was clearly recognised that in the event of such a disaster and subsequent interruption of the water supply from the water company, then Victoria Hospital will be in serious problems in respect of meeting the needs of its clients,” Philbert-Jules said.

The contracts for the project, signed between DIWI Consults International and the Ministry of Health, will facilitate a two-phased consultancy.  According to Wim Ruys of Diwi Consults International, the first phase of the project includes a study and preliminary investigations for the most feasible and economical method to be pursued. The second phase involves the supervision of construction.

“We will also do a small environmental impact assessment because it is anticipated that the pipeline may affect some of the people who live along here, although we will try to avoid it.   We will also recommend the optimum size of reservoir,” he added.

The total project cost is ninety-seven thousand US dollars (USD97,000.00) and it is expected that the new reservoir will be ready before the onslaught on the next hurricane season.

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