Antigua and Barbuda to have improved water services by March & September 2025

The Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) has said the water situation in the dual island-nation will see a marked improvement in March and September 2025. It said 90 per cent of its customers will receive water 90 per cent of the time by the end of September this year. General Manager John Bradshaw recently said during a media interview that improvements could be seen even before the timeline as reverse osmosis capacity is being augmented.

In sync with the Gaston Browne-led government’s significant plans to address the water supply problems in Antigua and Barbuda, APUA has unveiled plans to better the island’s water production and distribution systems. 

According to a report that came out in December 2024, the agency aims to produce an additional 7.5 million gallons of water daily by September 2025. It is part of APUA’s broader strategy to address long-standing water issues caused by droughts and obsolete infrastructure. 

Ffryers Beach reverse osmosis plant

On January 18, 2025, Bradshaw sounded ecstatic while speaking about the change in the water situation the under-construction reverse osmosis plant at Ffryers Beach by the US-based Seven Sea Water Group (SSWG). The plant is expected to produce a million gallons of water a day by January 31. 

While giving a list of places that will be served by the plant’s water, Bradshaw cited two major challenges that APUA is facing in its water-supply mission – ageing infrastructure at Crabbs and the conditions of the sea intakes. He also cited supply chain challenges that delay the arrival of critical equipment to the island. 

Daily water production less than demand

The challenges have seen Antigua and Barbuda’s daily production of water reduced to roughly 6.5 million gallons while the daily demand is at 9.5 million gallons provided the lines are filled with water. The focus is now to increase the production with the help of the new plant at Ffryers Beach. 

In December 2024, Antigua’s public utilities minister Melford Nicholas said the mission to make water available round the clock, except during scheduled maintenance, is based on a plan to expand water production capacity by 7.7 million gallons by the end of the current year.

APUA also set its goal on increasing its water-storage capacity to meet the demand during peak seasons and make a three-day reserve of 27 million gallons, from the current 13 to 14 million gallons. 

In March last year, Nicholas lauded the SSWG’s construction work in Antigua saying it significantly enhanced the country’s production capacity to match the growing demand stimulated by increased tourism activities, cruise ship arrivals, and economic activities.  

Bradshaw also said that some units at the Crabbs plant are not functional and efforts are underway to get them back to action soon. He said their operation will increase water production by two million gallons in a month if everything goes fine. The APUA official, however, reminded about the outdated infrastructure at Crabbs once again, saying the units could be hit by snags time and again.   

Bradshaw added improvement in supply was also expected by the end of March when 3.3 to 3.5 million gallons of water would be put back into the system, unless obstacles related to the supply chain or electrical happen. He said the water supply problem would go out of the door by September 2025 as two more millions would be added. 

He assured that APUA will be producing more than 10 million gallons a day in the near future which will mean 90 per cent of the customers will have water 90 per cent of the time. 

APUA is a government statutory agency which works to ensure consumers receive the best possible value in telecommunications (including mobile & internet), electricity and water services.