St. Thomas customers of the V.I. Water and Power Authority will experience a dry evening Tuesday and further rationing on Wednesday, due to a problem with production units.
“There will be no water service this evening,” according to a release from the authority which urged customers to seek "alternate sources.”
Water service will resume Wednesday from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., according to the release.
The rationing is tied to last week’s power outages, which reduced stockpiled water, WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr. explained in a telephone interview.
“We are having a hard time,” Hodge said. “When the units are down we don’t have the steam to produce the water.”
St. Thomas has been dipping into WAPAs inventoried water, but the inventory has depreciated to a point where WAPA has to ration the supply, Hodge explained.
“We have less than a day of water right now,” Hodge said, adding that WAPA will try to keep hotels supplied with water.
With all three units currently online tonight Hodge hopes to have a day or two of inventory by late tomorrow.