Churches and businesses are being called on to help people short of water, the Minister of Works and Engineering announced.

Derrick Burgess also said the capacity of the Tynes Bay Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant is to be increased from 500,000 gallons a day to one million gallons a day later this year.

And in addition, in conjunction with the Bermuda Land Development Corporation, the containerised RO plant will be moved to St. George's with the intent of increasing supply to the BLDC system at the East End of the Island.

The move comes as the Island continues to suffer a lack of rainfall and demand for water increases.

Yesterday, Mr. Burgess said: "We are calling upon churches and businesses at this time to assist. These facilities generally have larger water tanks and generally use only a small portion of the stored water.

"In this regard, we are pleased to note that only this morning Kelly Harris, Principal Civil Engineer, Water and Sewage, met with Bishop Vernon Lamb of First Church of God, North Shore, who advised regarding the amount of water available from the church's sources.

"It was agreed that the church would provide water for its members where possible. We applaud this initiative and express the hope that other churches in the community will provide water, if available, to their members during this challenging period. We also hope that businesses will follow this example by making water available to their staffs."

Speaking on the plant to be moved to St. George's, Mr. Burgess said: "The eastern parishes in particular have been struggling due to limited water resources in this area.

In conjunction with the Bermuda Land Development Corporation (BLDC), the containerised reverse osmosis plant will be moved to St. George's with the intent of increasing supply to the BLDC system.

"Water produced from this RO plant will be allocated to the water truckers' outlet currently operated by the BLDC. This change should provide relief to residents in the eastern area of the Island."

St. George's had a RO plant at Club Med which was closed with the demolition of the building.

One source said it produced 120,000 gallons of water a day.

"Recently this drought thing has come along now everybody wants water. Not just the truckers supply St. George's. The margin of safety has disappeared.

"Watlington Water has said 'we have to give all our capacity to Hamilton'. The average individual is left out. When they blew up the hotel they thought we have a margin of safety but that's gone. There's no leeway there."

He continued: "I think there's a lack of coordination somewhere. Do I have to order my water a week or two in advance? Do I need to drill a well?"

The man also said Government should have prepared for the drought six months ago instead of trying to find solutions now.

Mr. Burgess also said 4.7 millions gallons of water are used in Bermuda each day and 2.8 million are supplied by rainwater catchments.

"There will be some relief when the capacity of the Tynes Bay Reverse Osmosis plant is increased from 500,00 gallons per day to one million gallons per day later this year.

"I say some relief as the Government's current total RO capacity is 1,090,000 gallons per day, increasing to 1,590,000 gallons per day. It will be seen that this is still far short of the 4.7 millions gallons that our community consumes per day.

"This fact again emphasis the critical importance of rainfall to meet the Island's water needs."

The Minister also said Bermudians should not be concerned about water contamination due to the possibility of oil coming from the Gulf of Mexico.

The current rainfall for the so far year is 17.97 inches compared to 25.41 inches last year this time.