Overnight Without Water in Belize City, Adding to Utility Woes

The entire Belize City was shut off from access to running water from early afternoon on Thursday all the way into Friday morning. When the water began flowing once again on Friday morning, it was only to some homes and the water pressure was extremely low. This morning, the Belize Water Services Limited notified its customers in Belize City that the water pressure would remain low up until six p.m. for the entire city. Residents in Ladyville and Lord’s Bank were also affected, though the outage was not as extensive for most of those residents. The issue, according to a release from B.W.S.L., was a break on the twenty-four-inch main service line that provides water to Belize City. According to B.W.S.L., the leak was caused by ongoing power fluctuations. They explained that the fluctuations inadvertently created a twenty-three-foot break in the service line. According to B.W.S.L., crew members worked through the night to fix the pipe and restore water. This morning, we visited the location where the work was being conducted. We also spoke with a couple residents.

 

Voice of: Carlos Cortes, Ladyville Resident

“Ih just buss and start srpay by itself and that was all I see.”

 

Paul Lopez

“And how flooded was it?”

 

Voice of: Carlos Cortes

“It was flooded for real and all of our material, right now we need to go work and all our sand wash weh. All the stand weh and we need to go deliver sand right now and cant do that. To me they did a good job. They come quick and respond quick and thing, because what they took an hour for the truck to come and start work. They did a good job. Ih nuh really affect me but I had to go buy refill water to bathe, cause I drink crystal water so Ih never really affect me.”

 

Paul Lopez

“So you showered with crystal water.”

 

Voice of Carlos Cortes

“Refill water, not crystal water, refill three dollars.”

Paul Lopez

“So it was a desperate situation.”

 

Voice of: Carlos Cortes

“Yes, I need fih guh bathe with the kind of work I do out here. I carry cement and them kind of things, I need fih guh bather.”

 

Voice of: Shayanne Garcia, Ladyville Resident

“Yesterday afternoon we saw water like sometime after one. And then we realize that they had a pipe that broke below ground right in front of the restaurant fine dining. The management and supervisor reached out to the boss and the called the BWS truck and they started working on the issue.”

 

Paul Lopez

“How much water was coming from underground at that time?”

 

Voice of: Shayanne Garcia

“A lot, because the entire front of the restaurant was flood and then the water came adjacent to the street, from the restaurant and went down from the back alley, so it was a lot of water. I live in an upstairs house at Lord’s Bank and mein I was so tired and I wanted to take a shower but I was not able to take a shower because we didn’t have any water. So I had to wait until late yesterday evening to take a shower.”