NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (June 28, 2024)- Minister with responsibility for Water Services in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) the Honourable Spencer Brand says the drilling of new wells is anticipated to commence as early as July 2024.

He said the NIA Cabinet approved the multi-million-dollar project in February 2024 and in April entered into a contract with Water and Oil Well Services out of Trinidad and Tobago.

“That company is presently in the process of mobilizing to commence this drilling exercise here on the island of Nevis. They are scheduled to be on island in the first week of July, and we are expecting they will commence drilling immediately on arriving on island.”

With respect to the drilling, a number of sites have been identified for the initial stage of the project.

“We have identified Camps, Madden’s Estate, Madden’s tank area, Hard Times and Braziers as some of the immediate areas where the drillers will commence. We are expecting that the water that will be produced from the Camps area will go directly into the Spring Hill tank and will be fed by gravity to Jessups and then to various areas.

“We are expecting that over the next two or three weeks after the arrival here on Nevis to have additional water in our system,” Minister Brand informed during the June 18 sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly.

He explained that Nevis and the wider Caribbean region continue to be negatively impacted by reduced rainfall and the challenge of staying apace with the increasing demand for water.

“All of us would wish to see improvement in our water service. There has been a steady increase in the request for water. Post-COVID the island of Nevis stressed very heavily on greater food security and we continue to see expansion in our agriculture sector…and increased consumption of water in the agriculture sector. We also are seeing a very high utilization in the tourism sector at this time of the year, and the construction sector is also seeing increased consumption, all of which have put some additional stress on our system.”

According to Minister Brand, the Nevis Water Department has begun to put measures in place to rectify the situation, including increasing water storage capacity across the island, embarking on a desalination plant project, and drilling of additional wells.