On Monday, January 14th, a brief press conference was held at the boardroom of the Water Corporation of Anguilla, at Crocus Hill, to discuss the matter of non-revenue water. In essence, this is water that is produced and goes missing from the water system without being accounted for.
Chairman of the Water Corporation, Mr. Christopher Richardson, introduced two water engineers, Mr. Michael Quetel of QNRW Water Loss Controls, and Mr. Keith Smith of Aphix Sulutions, both of St. Thomas US Virgin Islands. The two will be working together on a six week project to stem the rising tide of this problem which is causing the water provider to lose as much as 60% of its distribution without trace.
According to Mr. Richardson, “The Water Corporation of Anguilla has been enacted ten years ago. Over the past ten years, we have fallen short of meeting its mantra of efficiency and reliability. We have been guided by many Boards in order to ensure that policy and procedures are in place for us to meet the mandates to produce water efficiency and reliability. However, this Board is determined to make sure that we do move our water system to a level of efficiency and effectiveness.
“When we speak of efficiency and effectiveness, we are looking at the profitability of our distribution. As for as distribution is concerned, over the years we have been plagued with high non-revenue water. As a consequence, we have recently sourced a company with international expertise who are resident in the Caribbean. We are sitting with Mr. Quetel and Mr. Smith now to discuss our concerns as far as this problem of non-revenue water goes. They will be kicking off the study of non-revenue water and will report to us why we only stand at 40% accountability for the water we distribute. They will be gathering data during this study and will recommend to us the kind of measures that we need to put in place to alleviate this problem of so much water loss.”
Mr. Quetel then said: “Non-revenue water was once known as ‘unaccounted for water’. The international organization that addresses water loss, the International Water Association, first started using the term ‘non-revenue water’.
“Non-revenue water can fall into various categories. It can be unbilled but accounted for; then there can be apparent losses and real losses. Apparent losses are associated with metering inaccuracies. Real losses of water may stem from leakage. That is the category of non-revenue water in particular that we will be focusing on.
“Leakage, theft and metering discrepancies are the three main factors that affect non-revenue water. Initially, we will be collecting data…, in an attempt to identify the cause of non-revenue water in Anguilla. Once the corrections are made, the Water Corporation should see greater profitability.”
Mr. Richardson finally said that while he realizes that the company can by no means be 100% efficient, it is his responsibility to do what is required to bring the losses from 60% down to a bare minimum, at a manageable level.
