00:00 According to managing director of DeSalle Cut, John Thompson, experts were working on
00:05 the DeSalle plant all through the night on Saturday after the electrical problem, which
00:09 he describes as a voltage dip, occurred at 2 p.m. that day.
00:14 He says the electrical issue, which affected only the system that purifies water, persisted
00:19 intermittently.
00:21 As a result, the plant was restarted and stopped several times.
00:25 At 4 p.m. on Sunday, DeSalle Cut was still unable to deliver water to Wassa, as was initially
00:30 intended.
00:32 Thompson tells us the reason behind the electrical problem was not identified at the time, but
00:37 there were ideas that a faulty breaker could have been the cause.
00:41 We have found that we do have two spare breakers.
00:44 So in fact, we're already starting to install one of them.
00:50 So it looks like pretty certainly we will be able to come up tonight.
00:55 We still have some troubleshooting to do in installing the spare breaker, but it's looking
01:02 good.
01:03 Thompson says if all goes well, it would only take a few hours to ramp up production to
01:07 80 percent capacity or more.
01:09 Wassa calls the present situation critical, noting that apart from residential customers,
01:15 DeSalle Cut also serves the Point Leisures Industrial Estate.
01:18 Wassa's corporate secretary and general counsel, Dianne Abdul, says in the interim, a decision
01:24 has been taken to redistribute water from some of the other plants, like the Karani
01:28 Water Treatment Plant, for instance, and Wassa's contractor, Seven Seas Desalination Plant,
01:34 to service some of the affected areas.
01:36 So we're going to maximize our plant's production system and optimize the delivery system of
01:42 the distribution system to ensure that whatever water we have available is made available
01:49 to our customers.
01:51 We will try as best as we can to ensure that this is not a crime of supply.
01:58 There is also the provision of a truckload supply, and it would be free of charge for
02:02 those affected.
02:04 According to Wassa, a new water schedule would be sent out to reflect the new arrangements.
02:10 Wassa is also cognizant that schools around the country are reopening on Monday, September
02:14 4th, and the authority says the affected schools would receive a truckload supply if the problem
02:20 isn't resolved by then.
02:22 Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
02:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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