The Water Corporation of Anguilla (WCA) has recently acquired a CASE mini excavator to be used primarily for digging for water leaks and making trenches for the installation and repair of piping. The light machine was sourced out of Florida, through D&D Imports of St. Maarten, and was blessed in a brief ceremony on Tuesday, May 28th.
A prayer of thanksgiving and blessing for the equipment, and the Water Corporation personnel at large, was offered by Rev. Dr. Wycherley Gumbs.
After a moment of silence in memory of a member of the WCA staff, Paulimer Rogers, who recently passed away, the Acting CEO of the WCA, Mrs. Lorna Richardson gave opening remarks: “It is a pleasure to be among all present to witness the blessing of this excavator, the most recent added resource to our fleet. This new addition is not only timely, but more importantly, it is a game changer for the Water Corporation. This machine places the Water Corporation in a better position to continue making strides to increase its customer base in addition to raising the bar on customer satisfaction.
“This excavator is a great asset to our resources. It is likely to enable us to enhance our performance and efficiencies in the following ways; 1. staying committed to managing and operating a pipe water system so our country has a supply of reliable, efficient and economical potable water; 2. Enabling us to reduce our installation time when adding services, since the WCA will be doing its own trenching.”
Mrs. Richardson said that in addition the excavator will improve the response time for repairing mainline leaks by minimizing long periods of water outages. She acknowledged the WCA staff for their continued hard work and dedication, as well as for their contributions to the growth and development of the Water Corporation of Anguilla.
In appreciating the excavator, the Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Curtis Richardson, remarked: I am happy today that we can bless this excavator. It means that the work crew can execute their work more efficiently at any time. As I look at it, I see that this one is a mini. In the not too distant future, as the WCA becomes more profitable, we will acquire a larger, more powerful one.
“As I talk to people in the public, they tend to thank me for the new and improved water services. Today I want to pass on that thanks to the members of the 
Water Corporation staff. You all have down you country proud.”
With regard to acquiring the essential machine, and in recognition of the linesmen, in particular, the Chairman of Board of the Water Corporation, Mr. Christopher Richardson commented: “I would like to commend the field staff for their work, especially. They are key to the operations at the Water Corporation. I want to applaud Earl and Eugene, in particular, for work well done, as they continue to go beyond their call of duty with the rest of the linesmen team. And so, today we are happy to be blessing this excavator, which will certainly make their work easier and more effective.”
On other water matters, the Chairman spoke about expanding the water services: “People are calling for water.” He said. “We will soon be carrying water into Altamer Hotel in West End, as well as into Zemi Beach Resort in Shoal Bay. I want to thank Seven Seas Water for helping us to make all this possible. Because of Seven Seas, we are producing 950 thousand gallons per day down at the bay.
In addition, TSG provides us with about 400 gallons per day. The big tank behind us is owned by TSG. We intend to buy out that tank from TSG because we are paying a huge amount for the lease of it. We find that to purchase the tank would be more economical in the long run.”
According to the Chairman, the total cost of the 2016 CASE excavator machine is US$70,000. Towards the end of the ceremony, the cutting of the ribbon to commission the machine was done by the Acting CEO, Mrs. Lorna Richardson.
