BWS Shows Media Major Treatment Facilities 

Belize Water Services opened two of its major treatment facilities to the media in a move to reassure the public that the national water supply remains safe. The decision follows heightened concern triggered by the Statistical Institute of Belize’s recently released MICS7 survey, which reported water safety and sanitation challenges across several districts in Belize.

Reporters toured the Double Run Water Treatment Plant in Sandhill, the main source of potable water for Belize City and Ladyville. They also visited the Belmopan Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has been the focus of recent complaints about foul odours in several neighbourhoods in that city.

BWS COO Sanjay Keshwani said the company chose to open its doors to provide clarity and transparency. “We wanted the media to see how we treat water, how we produce water, and what quality standards we follow,” Keshwani said. “We are doing our best to provide safe potable water.”

At Double Run, Belize District Manager Reina Gonzalez outlined the full treatment cycle. “At the Double Run Water Treatment plant, we treat the raw water coming from the river to ensure that we distribute potable water to our customers.” She said testing is done hourly, and the plant monitors turbidity, pH, chlorine levels, and other indicators before water reaches consumers.

“Our lab here takes samples to ensure that the entire disinfection process has gone through. The monitoring of this process is being done by our plant operators. This is a very extensive work that is done hourly.

The second stop addressed the ongoing sewer odour concerns in Belmopan. Residents had reported several weeks of strong smells, raising fears of a leak or systemic failure. Wastewater Manager Roberto Toriz said the cause was a damaged sewer line.

Toriz said the system was built in the 1970s, and “due to the age, it just started to collapse, and it took us quite a while to repair.” He explained that in order to proceed with repairs the station was temporarily “shut down” to avoid effluent flow affecting the repair site.

Toriz reminded that the “pipes have reached their life capacity” and “Eventually [the company] will have to replace the entire system”

He added, “We wouldn’t want to repeat more incidents like this, so we are looking into plans to place a little bit of small sections at that time. Recently we changed 500 feet of pipe. We are looking at the preventative ways to mitigate those issues.”

BWS says more upgrades across its networks are planned for next year.