Back To Well Water

The Editor
The Anguillian

Dear Sir,

BACK TO WELL WATER

I am writing to The Anguillan in hopes that there was an error made in the news item of 13 June concerning the distribution of water. The article quotes Mr. Larry Franklin as stating that,“…Unaccounted For Water (UFW) was about 70% of water purchased…” and that “…theft of water [is] estimated at 50% of the total water purchased.”

This can’t be right! Surely our astute Elected Officials, who approve our budget every year, had to notice that the revenues of the Water Department were 70% less than what we were paying Aqua Design annually.
How could anyone allow this to go on without taking any action? If I ran a business and 70% of my inventory was unaccounted for, how long would I be in business? But the Water Department is NOT a business, so they don’t need to worry about the bottom line or treat us as customers. Just throw more taxpayer money at the problem! Water supply in the West End has been sporadic since November, and there has been no water supply for the last 6 – 8 weeks. But now I find out that we who pay our bills monthly have no water because non-customers up the line are stealing it before it gets to the West End. What a disgrace! Plus, now I have to purchase truck water at exorbitant prices, and then pay again to run my electric pump to use it. I’m sure Aqua Design is laughing all the way to the bank at our inept Water Department! And why not?

Might I suggest that the entire water system be shut down, and use the monies saved to quickly implement Mr. Franklin’s loss reduction program? Perhaps the whole problem could be corrected in much less that his 6 months time frame.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Taxpayer