Eleuthera Residents at Breaking Point Over Power and Water Issues

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ELEUTHERA , BAHAMAS – Imagine experiencing months of power outages that happen not once but several times a day. Coupled with days without water. For thousands of Eleuthera residents it’s a harsh and daily reality.

That’s Da Perk coffee shop owner and chef Horatio Smith venting about the ongoing utility issues on that island. The worst of it? Water woes that they claim can last up to weeks and rolling power outages.

And it hasn’t gone unnoticed by even the island’s youngest residents, including Smith’s toddler daughter .

When it comes to the power outages we saw firsthand just how bad it can get.

Just an hour after landing on the island that morning and moments before our first interview with office general owner Juanita Pinder just after 9 am, the power went out. Plunging her store full of customers into darkness.

Over the next 4 hours it would go off and on at least four times.

A frustrated Pinder, who has been living on the island since the late 1990’s with her husband, telling me it’s bad for business.

She’s not the only one who feels that way. Owner of glass window studios Eric Wallace says Eleuthera residents need to be more vocal.

Minister of Works and family island affairs Clay Sweeting has said the government is committed to doing whatever it needs to fix challenges with utilities on the island, including sending more BPL resources to Eleuthera and reviewing the government’s contract with Aqua Design, the company contracted to provide water to the water and sewerage corporation for all of the island.

With no short term fix in sight, owner of Villa Allamanda and architect John Mcardy says many residents are going the extra mile and installing generators and water tanks.