PHILIPSBURG–GEBE has started making drinking water available to the public on the Eastern side of the island by means of three storage tanks located at McDonald’s at the Belvedere roundabout, at the Fresh Market parking lot and at the entrance of Festival Village.
This drinking water is purified and originates from the reverse osmosis (RO) unit at the Festival Village that was brought to Sint Maarten from the Netherlands, GEBE announced in a press release.
“The Dutch Ministry supplied the units and tanks and arranged for the engineers and the St. Maarten Inspectorate of Health VSA, in close collaboration with NV GEBE.”
The tank sites will be supplied with drinking water between 7.30am and 7.00pm. All tanks are equipped with various water taps. Persons living in the areas of the tanks are requested to bring along their jerry cans to the named locations where they will be able to fill these containers with drinking water. The Red Cross will distribute a limited amount of jerry cans at the different locations.
GEBE is looking at the possibility of building more storage tanks that will be able to assist with the drinking water situation as early as today, Monday, October 2. Twenty tanks and five trucks arrived in St. Maarten aboard the Dutch ship Karel Doorman to be able to assist with this.
The tanks will also be located on the Eastern side of the island. “The goal is that the community of Sint Maarten should not have to walk more than 500 metres for clean drinking water in areas where this water is not yet drinkable from the tap,” GEBE stated in the press release.
Bron: Daily Herald