MONROVIA, Montserrado – The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation and the Millennium Challenge Account Liberia have agreed to reconstruct a raw water pipeline that will supply water from the Mount Coffee Hydro Power Plant to the White Plains Water Treatment Plant outside Monrovia.
The five-kilometer pipeline was damaged during the country’s protracted civil conflict. Funding for the reconstruction of the pipeline is being provided by the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation and an invitation for bids is currently being advertised.
Since the pipeline was destroyed, the water treatment plant has obtained water from the St. Paul River using a river tube and raw water pump station.
The new pipeline will reduce LWSC’s cost of power consumed to pump water, as the water from the Mount Coffee Hydro Power Plant is at a higher elevation than the White Plains plant. The pipe extension will replace the previously used gravity pipeline destroyed which provided gravity flow from the Mount Coffee reservoir.
Moreover, the new pipeline will improve the quality of raw water being supplied. The current intake location is subject to saltwater intrusion during the dry season.
The improved reliability of the raw water supply to the entity’s facility in White Plains will result in a more consistent water supply to the LWSC service area, thereby reducing the occurrence of outages.
As the reliability and quality of water delivered by the system improve, a higher percentage of the city and county’s population will want to obtain their water from the public water system.
In May of this year, the LWSC’s managing director noted that the agency loses 78 percent of its already limited water supply to leakages and illegal connections.
Featured photo by Zeze Ballah
