Potworks Dam

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Potworks Dam (reservoirs)
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Location: Southeast Antigua , Antigua and Barbuda
Drain: Ayers Creek → Nonsuch Bay (Atlantic Ocean)
Larger places nearby: All saints
Potworks Dam (Reservoirs) (Antigua and Barbuda)
Potworks Dam (reservoirs)
Coordinates 17 ° 3 '46 "  N , 61 ° 45' 22"  W Coordinates: 17 ° 3 '46 "  N , 61 ° 45' 22"  W.
Data on the structure
Data on the reservoir
Water surface 1.3 km²
Reservoir length 2.5 km
Reservoir width 1 km
Storage space 4th 142 000  m³
Catchment area 24.30 km²
Particularities:

Drinking water reservoir , largest reservoir in the Caribbean; Delapps Water Treatment Plant ; Important Bird Area

The Potworks Dam is a reservoir near All Saints in the southeast of the Caribbean island of Antigua . On the south bank lies the Delapps Water Treatment Plant , one of the most important water treatment plants on the island.

Location and landscape

The lake is a few kilometers east of All Saints, on the edge of the island's Central Plain . It dams the Ayers Creek , which has mostly fallen dry on the upper reaches and flows a few more kilometers east into Nonsuch Bay on the Atlantic coast of Antigua.

function

Potworks Reservoir

The lake has a length of about 2½ kilometers, an area of ​​about 130  hectares and holds a good 4 million m³ of water. This makes it the largest reservoir in the Caribbean. It is used to supply the island with drinking water , which - unlike the other Caribbean islands - suffers from drought. The reservoir contains Potworks- 2 / 3 of the total water retention capacity of the island (about 7 million m³). The catchment area covers 2430 ha (24 km²).

Otherwise, the island is supplied with seawater desalination plants ( Sembcorp Antigua , Camp Blizzard , Ffryes Beach ) and from many small cisterns and house wells. All in all, the lake holds the island's needs for about six months.

Delapps Water Treatment Plant

The water is fed to the Delapps Water Treatment Plant , south of the lake towards Bethesda . There it is processed by reverse osmoticism and then fed into the island's water network. The plant makes 7,000 cubic meters a day, which are around 20% of the total daily requirement of the island - along with half as powerful Bendals Water Treatment Plant (Dunning Dam) and some small plants make the surface water treatment plants 1 / 3 of the current daily requirement.

If required, water also reaches Delapps from the smaller Collins Reservoir located below on Ayers Creek, as well as from the Bethesda Dam in the south on Willoughby Bay , which is otherwise used for agriculture .

history

Named the dam is for a pottery ( English Pottery works ). Here was a farm of the Codrington family, one of the important planter families who grew sugar cane from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The pottery made clay sugar loafs for the export of the molasses - the area belongs to the heavy clay soil zone of the island , which brushes southeast from St. John's Harbor to Willoughby Bay .

The storage plant was built in the later 1960s to prevent repeated water emergencies. The dam was built over parts of the manufacturing facilities and a 19th century bridge over Ayers Creek. Shortly before the completion of the barrage in 1968, a surprising, exceptionally heavy rain flooded the reservoir, so that the lake bed could not be prepared. The building was opened on May 28, 1970, a memorial plaque reminds of it.

The dam already proved itself in 1974, during the severe drought from January to mid-August, but during the 21-month drought catastrophe 1983-85 the lake fell completely dry later in 1984, whereupon the water supply collapsed completely and drinking water had to be brought from the neighboring islands. With seawater desalination, this should no longer happen.

natural reserve

Due to the strongly fluctuating water level, stable aquatic life cannot develop, but the lake has become an important habitat for birds. The western end of the lake in particular is considered a good place for bird watching. Be seen here Egret (Snowy egret, Egretta thula ), egret (Cattle egret, Bubulcus ibis ) and Osprey (Osprey, Pandion haliaetus ) are established and a greater stock of the Gull (Laughing Gull, Larus atricilla ), the Braunpelikan (Brown Pelican , Pelecanus occidentalis ), but especially a small population of the kuba whistle-duck (West Indian Whistling-duck, Dendrocygna arborea ), an endangered species of bird. To find are purple-throated Hummingbird (Purple-throated Carib, Eulampis vein ), Blue Star Antilles Hummingbird (Green-throated Carib, Eulampis holosericeus ) Antilles hood Hummingbird (Antillean Crested Hummingbird, Orthorhyncus cristatus ) or white chin-Olivtyrann (Caribbean Elaenia, Elaenia martinica ) more endemic and rare birds.

The lake therefore moved into the focus of nature conservation soon after it was dammed, and a Potworks Reservoir Wildlife Reserve was proposed as early as the 1970s ( Nicholson 1977 ). In 2007 BirdLife International described an Important Bird Area  (AG010 Potworks Dam ) with 117 hectares according to the criteria A1 (threatened species), A2 (local / endemic species), A4i / B4i (at least 1% of the population). A legally binding protection is still pending.

literature

  • Desmond V. Nicholson: Heritage landmarks: Antigua and Barbuda. Edition reprint, Museum of Antigua and Barbuda, 2001, Potworks Reservoir , p. 8 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Christopher Beale: Antigua and Barbuda: Island Guide (=  Other Places travel guides ). Other Places Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-615-21837-3 , Potworks Dam , p. 79 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Due to the lack of central volcanic mountains, both of the old islands, which are geologically relative to the Antilles, have no orographic cloud and little accumulated precipitation , Jeff Baldwin: The contested beach. Resistance and Resort development in Antigua, West Indies . In: Carolyn L. Cartier, Alan A. Lew (Eds.): Seductions of Place: Geographical Perspectives on Globalization and Touristed Landscapes (=  Critical geographies . Volume 19 ). Psychology Press, 2005, Chapter 14, Part III The Beach , Desiring the Caribbean Section , p. 203–221, here p. 207 , here p. 222 ( books.google.de - reading sample).
  3. ↑ a b The Technical Advisory Committee - UNCCD - i. A. The Environment Division - Ministry of Public Works and Environment (Ed.): United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification: National Action Plan for Antigua & Barbuda . April 2005, 1.1.4.2. Water Resources , Table 1.1. Agriculture Reservoir Location and Capacity in Antigua , S. 11 , in PDF p. 18 ( unccd.int [PDF] volumes in m³ are converted to 1000 acre-feet , so approx. 1 ⁄ 1/4 too low). unccd.int ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.unccd.int
  4. ^ A b The Caribbean Conservation Association - i. A. The Government of Antigua and Barbuda - Historical, Conservation, and Environmental Commission (Ed.): Antigua and Barbuda - Country environmental profile . St. Michael (Barbados) 1991, Section Water supply / demand and treatment , Figure 2.2 (5) Several of the larger agricultural and municipal reservoirs for the Island of Antigua ; Table 2.2 (3). Size and storage capacity of several of the larger agricultural and municipal reservoirs In Antigua. and Section Watersheds , Table 2.2 (2) Antigua watsrsheds with storage capacity estimates for existing and proposed agricultural and municipal water supplies (acre-feet). , S. 65 ff. resp. 61 , in PDF p. 85 ff. Resp. 82 ( usaid.gov [PDF] area in Table 2.2 (3) is the catchment area [groundwater reservoirs]).
  5. ↑ Genivar Trinidad & Tobago; Ivor Jackson and Associates, Kingdome Consultants Inc. (Assoc.): Sustainable Island Resource Management Zoning Plan for Antigua and Barbuda (including Redonda) . Port of Spain December 2011, 4.8.2 Water and Wastewater Infrastructure , p. 93 ff ., p. 111 ff. ( ab.gov.ag [PDF; accessed on February 22, 2014] in particular. Figure 4.20 Wells, reservoirs & desalination plants , and Table 3.2 Existing Storage Volumes of Major Watersheds in Antigua , p. 29 / PDF, p. 47; the area given is the entire Potworks / Ayers Creek water system ). ab.gov.ag ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ab.gov.ag
  6. ↑ a b Water Commission in Antigua. Antigua Public Utilities Authorities ( apua.ag ).
  7. ↑ Melesha Banhan, Ato Lewis: National Circumstances . Ed .: Global Environment Facility [GEF]. 2010, 1.3.3 Water Resources , p. 21 ( gefantigua.org [PDF] Chapter 1, on a report on Climate Change Third National Communication , onA). gefantigua.org ( Memento of the original from March 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gefantigua.org
  8. ^ UNCCD: National Action Plan . 2005, Table 2.5. Current water resources and water demand situation , p. 35 , in PDF, p. 42 . As well as Desalinated Water , p. 12 (19).
  9. ↑ Water Provision in Antigua  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / caribarenaantigua.com   , caribarenaantigua.com, March 19, 2013, accessed March 1, 2014.
  10. ^ UNCCD: National Action Plan . 2005, 2.1.4.3. Water production: Bethesda Catchment, Potworks Catchment and Potworks Watershed , S. 33 , in PDF p. 41 .
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g The Museum of Antigua & Barbuda, The Dockyard Museum: Potworks Reservoir . Retrieved March 1, 2014 from antiguanice.com.
  12. ↑ a b c d e f AG010 Potworks Dam. Site profile. In: birdlife.org> Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs). BirdLife International, accessed February 28, 2014 .
  13. ↑ Banhan, Lewis; GEF: National Circumstances . 2010, 1.4.3 Rainfall , p. 26 .
  14. ^ Antigua Public Utilities Authority: Antigua Drought 1983, Implications and Possible Solutions. Government of Antigua and Barbuda, Saint John's (Antigua) 1984.
  15. ↑ D. Nicholson: Some of the important wildlife areas of Antigua and Barbuda. unpublished report, 1977; Information according to P. DeGeorges: Biodiversity and natural resources management, draft field notes . USAID jREMS, Bridgetown (Barbados) 1988; Compiled in The Caribbean Conservation Association (Ed.): Country environmental profile . Table 2.3 (4) Potential terrestrial biodiversity sites to be evaluated for designation as wildlife reserves , p. 83 , there p. 104 .
  16. ^ Global IBA Criteria. In: birdlife.org> Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs) . Accessed February 2014 .