Mr. Brian Kennedy – Nevis Water Department
Charlestown, Nevis
July 01, 2008
A new high production water well discovered in Maddens by Bedrock Explorations and Drilling (BEAD), was commissioned by the Nevis Water Department last weekend, following the completion of pipe work which linked it to the existing service reservoir at Maddens.
Water Development Engineer at the Nevis Water Department Mr. Brian Kennedy gave the confirmation on June 20, 2008, when he spoke to the Department of Information.
“Last week the well was completed and the pipe work to connect the well to the Maddens existing reservoir was also completed, so the first water that was produced and sent up to the reservoir was done over the weekend.
“The idea is that all of the water will be pumped to the Maddens reservoir and therefore as long as we keep the water topped up in the reservoir the system that’s operating and has been operating for many, many years of serving the entire area from Maddens, Butlers across to Camps, Mount Lilly, Jessups and Four Seasons that arm is taken care of once we keep the reservoir at Maddens full. So that’s what we have been able to do with the new well,” he said.
The supply could also feed a limited part of Charlestown in Ramsbury and part of Government Road.
The trial period since the well was commissioned, Mr. Kennedy said, would continue this week through next week.
“We will be pumping every day and as a trial over the weekend we shut down all of the existing wells, there are five existing wells three Maddens wells and two at Butlers. We shut those down to see how we would fair out because the output from the new single borehole is approximately equal to the combined output of the previous wells,” he said.
According to Mr. Kennedy, the well had been pumping 546,000 UK gallons per day while the existing five wells which had been turned off on commission of the new well, were able to produce a maximum of 560,000 gallons per day.
However, he explained that during the period of one year, The Department would seldom get that amount out of the five wells due to down time at one of the wells or because of electrical interruptions in the area.
Mr. Kennedy explained that the Maddens well was the first really productive well of the programme by BEAD to drill approximately 10 wells on the island. Previously the Company had drilled approximately five bore holes and two were moderately productive and had produced small quantities of water.
The Nevis Island Administration in 2007 had engaged the services of BEAD to provide additional 1million gallons of water per day. The move was to improve the Nevis Water Department’s supply.
For some years the water supply on Nevis had been outstripped by the demand and the Department had to implement an annual rationing system as soon as the weather turned dry and during other times of the year as well.