Harnessing the Elements - Antigua Public Utility Authority

ANTIGUA PUBLIC UTILITY AUTHORITY

HARNESSING THE ELEMENTS

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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INTERVIEW: ANTIGUA PUBLIC UTILITIES AUTHORITY

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HARNESSING THE ELEMENTS Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Ian Lewis, Water Business Unit Manager at Antigua Public Utilities Authority, about non-revenue water reduction, electricity savings, and the future of water storage in Antigua and Barbuda.

By Marcus Bonnano Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) is the statutory agency in Antigua and Barbuda responsible for providing residents with water, electricity, and telecommunications. APUA’s Water Business Unit, which dates back to APUA’s founding in the early 1970s, is responsible for providing potable water to residents.

“Antigua has always been a water-scarce country because of its location and topography,” explains Ian Lewis, Water Business Unit Manager at APUA. “We only average about 44 inches of rain per year. For the last ten years, Antigua has only experienced three years where we have had above-average rainfall; for the remaining seven years, we have been below average. For the year ending April 2020, the rainfall Antigua received was the worst rainfall for the last 67 years, and we are presently in a drought situation again.”

TIGHT SHIP Antigua and Barbuda relies on three different types of water sources: Groundwater, such as water from wells; surface water, such as water from reservoirs; and desalinated seawater. APUA processes approximately seven million gallons of water daily in a 1:3:6 ratio – one part groundwater to three parts surface water to six parts desalinated seawater. The dominance in the mix of desalinated water comes at a hefty price, though: Desalination is one of the most expensive ways of producing potable water, requiring a substantial input of electricity – itself prohibitively costly for island countries like Antigua and Barbuda, which import fuel for electricity generation.

“At APUA Water Business Unit, we have a non-revenue water figure of about 40% to 45%,” says Mr. Lewis. “Because our water is expensive, we have a vested interest in trying

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INTERVIEW: ANTIGUA PUBLIC UTILITIES AUTHORITY

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Call: +1 (310) 283-7476 | www.source-h2o.com to reduce that cost. We’re doing this in two ways. Firstly, water is still pumped through a lot of old metal lines that were installed 50 or 60 years ago. APUA has embarked on a project to change at least ten miles of that piping, beginning with the area where we see high frequencies of leaks. Although global events this year have delayed the project, we still expect to start it very soon.”

“Secondly, our other approach to reducing non-revenue water is in billing,” says Mr. Lewis. “We’re changing over from mechanical meters to ‘smart’ meters. The older me-

chanical meters become inaccurate after just a few years, whereas newer meters are more accurate for longer, meaning we can bill for the right amount of water used. We have about 25,000 clients and will roll out 8,000 meters each year for the next three years.

Early trials indicate there will be an increase of between 125% and 200% in billing. Once the entire population has smart meters, we expect to see an increase in collection of about 220%. That will bring our non-revenue water within the range of the standard laid out by the World Bank and IMF.”

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FRESH SOURCES In order to further improve costs – and reduce electricity consumption – APUA is also looking at ways of expanding collection from groundwater and surface water sources.

“We have engaged a group of engineers from Cuba who are studying our groundwater system with an aim to expand the amount we currently receive,” Mr. Lewis says.

“Groundwater is the cheapest source and we get about 500,000 to 1,000,000 gallons from it per day, but we are keen to find out how much more we have in groundwater

“WE HAVE REDUCED THE COST OF PRODUCING 1000 GALLONS OF POTABLE WATER FROM 18 KILOWATTS (KW) TO ABOUT 14KW.”

resources. We’re also looking at increasing the size of our existing surface water reservoirs while simultaneously working to create new ones. Reservoirs are essential, because Antigua is a flat country, so rainfall otherwise runs right back into the sea. Both groundwater and surface water are much cheaper than desalination so ultimately we’d prefer to use those first and desalination only to augment our total needs.”

CLEAN ELECTRICITY As the sister organization to APUA’s Electricity Business Unit, the Water Business Unit is conscious of the expense of electricity pro-

duction in Antigua and Barbuda. That’s why the Water Business Unit is also investing in reducing their electricity requirements.

“The desalination process uses about five times as much power as groundwater production,” says Mr. Lewis. “As long as we still need to use desalination, we’re investing in more energy-efficient equipment, as well as an entire plant with greater energy efficiency. We have reduced the cost of producing 1000 gallons of potable water from 18 kilowatts (kW) to about 14kW.” Even with these significant electricity reductions, APUA continued looking for ways to reduce their reliance on costly fossil

fuel-based electricity generation. “We realized these investments still wouldn’t be enough, because of the high cost of fossil fuels,” says Mr. Lewis. “As a result, in partnership with the Environment Division, we started looking at solar panels. Electricity Business Unit installed 10MW of solar power. The total generation capacity figure of 100MW may not be accurate however, for context, the peak electricity demand on island is approximately 58MW and 10MW of that figure can be attributed to solar power.The grid also buys excess solar power from privately-installed arrays in homes and businesses.”

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INTERVIEW: ANTIGUA PUBLIC UTILITIES AUTHORITY

“TOGETHER, THESE STEPS WILL INCREASE OUR PRODUCTION CAPACITY ENOUGH TO MEET OUR CUSTOMERS’ HIGH DEMAND.” “Going one step further, the Environment Division is now looking at setting up wind turbines specifically to assist the Water Business Unit’s ability to return to production after a hurricane has passed,” says Mr. Lewis. “Once a hurricane has passed, there is normally a lot of damage to electricity poles and lines. Sometimes it takes days or weeks to get these systems back up and running.

So, the Environment Division thought that if we have wind turbines connected to major plants, the plants could be back online within 12 to 24 hours. That means the population can have water again in no more than a day.”

EXPANDING CAPACITY APUA’s Water Business Unit has an indispensable role going forward ensuring a growing Antigua and Barbuda continues to be sup-

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plied with potable water. “The way we will achieve this, we will cut down on waste while also improving and increasing revenue,” says Mr. Lewis. “This year there are plans for two new desalination plans that will add 1 million gallons to the daily production capacity.

We’re also refurbishing two plants that will increase capacity by another 1 million gallons.

In 2021, APUA will build a brand-new facility capable of 3 million gallons per day of production. Together, these steps will increase our production capacity enough to meet our customers’ high demand.”

“We’re also looking at increasing our storage in terms of building more storage tanks,” says Mr. Lewis. “Because of our small size, one of the problems we have, when taking a plant out for maintenance, is that the areas the plant distributes water to loses access to running water completely.

Better storage facilities will reduce and prevent this. This year we plan to install another 4 million to 5 million gallons of storage.

That would put us be in a better position for maintenance procedures, enabling our customers to continue receiving water during these periods. With all of these factors combined, over the next three years, the APUA Water Business Unit will be in a much better position to both make our customers happy and bring in the financial recompense that we require.” c

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APUA info@apua.ag T: 268-480-7150 www.apua.ag

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