The Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) signed an $83-million non-revenue water reduction (NRW) contract with Miya/Veritec at the Office of the Prime Minister on February 17.

The signing of the contract completes the execution of an $81-million loan agreement that was signed on December 16, 2011, between the WSC and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), secured with a guarantee by The Bahamas government.

The loan will be used for infrastructural improvements to the water systems on New Providence, as well as administrative upgrades.

Miya, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arison Investments.

The activities of Arison Investments focus on finance, real estate and infrastructures, and water and energy.

Veritec, a Miya Group company is a leading firm in North America in water loss management and water conservation.

The primary objective of the project to be undertaken by Miya is to reduce NRW from over five million gallons per day to 2.5 million gallons per day within five years.

The second phase ensures that the reduction is maintained for a sufficiently long period for WSC to benefit fully.

While the total contract price is $83 million, the projected savings of the project are over $80 million.

WSC will also receive over $40 million in infrastructure and other improvements in addition to the water savings.

They include training of WSC staff; replacement/maintenance of over 23,000 service connections; detection and repair of over 6,000 leaks; provision of an integrated asset/NRW management software system; improved service to customers and deferment of capital upgrades to accommodate increased demands.

The IDB funding will be applied to the phase one reduction activities, while savings from the reduced volumes of water purchased, and increased revenue from sales is expected to fund the second phase.