MONROVIA, Montserrado – Businesses and households within the Monrovia metropolitan area experienced interrupted water supply for at least two-thirds of the month of July, due to a wave of outages in water supplied by the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation.

About four weeks ago, the region experienced water outages for several days. Residents of households in Congo Town, Monrovia, and Paynesville were forced to use water from wells and hand pumps as a result of the outages.

Companies that package the water for sale in sachets were not exempted as they went weeks with interrupted water supply.

John Kpakolo, LWSC’s deputy managing director for technical services, responded to inquiries from The Bush Chicken through email.

He said the first outage during the month of July took place during the first week. According to Kpakolo, it was caused by a breakdown of LWSC’s only 1,750 KVA generator that provided power to the pumping units at the Water Treatment Plant in White Plains.

Kpakolo said LWSC could not immediately repair the unit, and that they were able to get the Liberia Electricity Corporation to “fast-track connection to the plant.”

“At present, we are running on direct LEC power,” he wrote. “Meanwhile, we are doing everything to have the damaged generator repaired.”

Another outage occurred from July 11 to 18. This time, Kpakolo explained that the outage resulted from a break in the major pipe that carries water to Monrovia, adding that the “line is of re-inforced concrete material and has been in place for over 60 years.”

The damaged 36-inch transmission main line. Photo: LWSC

Soon after the damage to the main transmission line was repaired, engineers of the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation laying fiber optic cables around the Isaac A. Davis School in Paynesville damaged a pipe on July 20.

This particular incident resulted in a tainted water supply as some residents reported receiving slightly muddy water.

Kpakolo, providing an update on yet another water outage, said it took some time for the damage to be resolved because “the repairs done on the pipe were not holding.”

As most households in Monrovia were going without water for the fifth running day, Kpakolo noted that he was on his way to Buchanan, Grand Bassa, where President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was expected to dedicate a completed water project in celebration of Liberia’s independence.

The manager of a local mineral water producing factory who spoke to the Bush Chicken on the condition of anonymity said the constant outage of water has had a significant impact on his business.

According to him, he had been out of business for almost three weeks due to the frequent disruptions as the region experienced water outages.

In an email exchange, Kimmie Weeks, the chair of the LWSC board, indicated that the water company was putting measures in place to reduce the frequency of outages.

“An ongoing US$10 million renovation of the White Plains Water Treatment Plant will ensure more stability at the plant as well as high water production capacity from the current 4 million gallons per day to 16 million gallons a day,” he wrote. “The Government of Liberia and donor partners will provide US$6 million to reinforce the current 36-inch pipeline while government sources the approximately US$50 million needed to build a new pipeline.”

Featured photo by Zeze Ballah