undrinkable water into fresh water to help ease problems caused by droughts.

The $1.9 million seawater desalination plant will be able to turn up to 250,000 gallons of brackish water a day into drinking water.

The plant can be trailed behind a truck to different parts of the Island to bore holes where it will convert the unusable water into drinking water.

Works Minister Alex Scott revealed details of the plant last week as he announced that the price of 1,000 gallons of water will rise by $1.70 from $13.45 to $15.15 from November 1.

Mr. Scott said the hike was due to the increase in electricity costs to produce water at Government facilities, and to invest in a desalination plant.

He said Government reservoirs almost dried out in June and around one quarter of the cost of supplying water came from electricity payments to Bermuda Electric Light Company.

The desalination plant, which is expected to arrive on the Island from the United States by the end of the year, will help the Island through drought periods, he said.