NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 14, 2024)- The Nevis Island Administration (NIA)’s effort to make more water available to the people of Nevis is bearing significant fruit as the company contracted to dig new wells around the island struck water at the first drilling site in Maddens Estate.

Water and Oil Wells Services Company Limited’s (WOWS) drilling exercise yielded water at a depth of approximately 600 feet on October 10, and drilling continued on October 11 to an optimal depth of just over 700 feet.

“This is indeed a very exciting time here on the island of Nevis as we have struck water at the Maddens site. This marks a pivotal moment in our ongoing efforts to enhance our water security and sustainability,” said Minister responsible for Water Services the Honourable Spencer Brand.

Premier of Nevis the Honourable Mark Brantley commended Minister Brand and his team for their tenacity at trying to bring resolution to the island’s water supply challenges, saying he is very pleased at the results thus far.

“We are extremely happy that our drillers have hit water. We have been experiencing some difficulties in water supply over the years and this drilling exercise that the government has undertaken will hopefully resolve those issues and ensure a more sustainable water supply to the people of Nevis.”

Drilling at the first site commenced in early August, and according to WOWS Operations Engineer and Commercial Supervisor Joshua Ross, despite experiencing several mechanical issues, chief of which was encountering a thick zone of unconsolidated material that caused the wells to cave in, there was only a brief delay in the drilling process as the company was quickly able to resolve that problem.

Providing an update on the process since striking water, Mr. Ross said, “Now we will pump test the well, however the pump required to perform the test on this particular well will arrive in Nevis shortly so we can carry out that testing.”

The WOWS team is now mobilizing to begin drilling at a second site in Maddens Estate.

Minister Brand said the NIA’s water drilling project consists of nine potential wells which he is hopeful will, over the next few months, produce the desired results and significantly augment the island’s potable water supply.

“This project is extremely important and critical to the island of Nevis because the general public would recall that in our harshest months we have often seen a water rationing exercise, and we are hoping that at the completion of this drilling exercise we can get to a point where water rationing on Nevis will become a thing of the past.

“So I’m very excited and hopeful that the various flow tests and quality tests of the well at Maddens would be such that it would be of a potable nature. So we will run those tests in order to get to a point where we can actually put this water into our system.”

Mr. Floyd Robinson, Manager of the NIA’s Water Resources Management Unit, says it is estimated that the first well can produce up to 300 gallons of water per minute. Once all the tests are completed and the water is deemed potable, the well will feed into the Maddens Estate water storage tank which could then be distributed to surrounding communities including Brick Kiln, New Castle, and as far as Jessups and into Charlestown.