More Potable Water Customers See Normalization Of Service As Additional Pumps Come Online, WAPA Says

ST. CROIX — Increasing numbers of WAPA potable water customers from mid-island to west end St. Croix, including Frederiksted town, are seeing a normalization of service, the authority said in a release issued Tuesday.

With two additional pumps on-line since Monday, WAPA said it continues to build capacity at the Kingshill tank which provides water supply out to the western end of the island. “While storage levels at the tank fluctuate throughout the day due to the demand on the water system, we are confirming that more and more customers, especially those at the furthest ends of the system are being restored,” said WAPA Executive Director Lawrence J. Kupfer.

According to the release, he said on Tuesday senior leadership of the water division led a team to continue verifying the performance of the distribution system. “At several locations, we identified pressure regulating devices that required some fine tuning, and in some instances, reactivation. Once those checks were completed, and adjustments made, we began to see better performance to west end areas including Frederiksted,” Mr. Kupfer said.

Crews are tonight at the Contentment pump station making final preparations to initiate three new pumps that have been installed there. “We intend to bring those pumps on-line which will greatly enhance the service we provide to our customers.”

The three pumps at Contentment will bring to five the number of newly installed pumps that are now on-line and enhancing the storage we build at Kingshill, even as more demand on the water supply is evident.

“We remain confident that as customers see normalization of water service over the next 24-48 hours, WAPA will also see success in building storage at the five million gallon Kingshill tank,” Kupfer said. Our efforts will continue until all customers are back on-line, and the storage level at Kingshill is near to the tank’s capacity, he added.

Customers who continue to experience full water service interruption may be affected by an isolated issue. Affected customers should call 340-773-2250, Option 4 or email [email protected].