Government could have been better prepared for the worst three-month drought to affect the Island in almost 50 years, according to a local water engineer.

Ian Saunders has analysed data for monthly rainfall for the last 47 years which shows that April to June 2010 was the driest three-month period in Bermuda since 1963.

The drought led to families calling trucking companies in tears, desperate to get water to their homes. But truckers had to turn dozens of customers down because of a lack of water at government-run facilities.

Mr. Saunders, who was a water section operation and project engineer with Works and Engineering from 1983 to 1998, told The Royal Gazette that Government had not effectively managed its fresh and brackish water systems.

He said treating fresh water was the cheapest and most environmentally sound way to produce drinkable — or potable — water, yet Government had instead ploughed millions of dollars into seawater treatment plants.

"The current Government seems to always go for the most expensive solutions for water supply with no regard to cost or the environment," he said.

Mr. Saunders worked as a consultant for the water section between late 2006 and early 2008 but resigned after disagreeing with a plan to build a second seawater treatment plant at Tynes Bay at a cost of $2.4 million.

He claims the reverse osmosis facility is still not in use, adding: "For less than $2.4 million, I could have refurbished all of the Government's existing fresh and brackish water treatment plants Island-wide and done so within a two-year period.

"Despite some challenges, fresh and brackish treatment systems are significantly less costly to operate than seawater desalination plants.

"Seawater plants are much more expensive to build, maintain and operate as they consume significantly more electricity than low-cost alternatives."

Mr. Saunders said that in 1997, Government could produce up to 1.3 million gallons of drinking water a day from the Island's huge underground reservoirs of fresh and brackish water, which he described as a sustainable resource.

But instead of doing so, he claimed, it allowed its fresh and brackish water systems to fall into disrepair.

"Had the working fresh and brackish systems that existed in April 1998 been maintained and expanded over the following 12 years and had recommendations presented prior to 1998 been followed, then Government should have been able to meet all demands for supplementary drinking water," he said.

Mr. Saunders — who has 40 years experience in the water industry, including 27 in Bermuda — said seawater desalination was appropriate for some areas of Bermuda but not in the central parishes right now, when the reserves of fresh and light brackish waters are underutilised.