Since the beginning of this hot summer, Bahrain has been struggling to meet electricity and water needs. Thus, authorities on Sunday appealed to the public to use electricity and water wisely. 
Bahrain's Electricity and Water Ministry Assistant Under-Secretary for Electricity and Water Production, Dr Khalid Burashid said the next 10 days would be the most difficult, when the highest electricity peak is expected to be registered.
According to the GDN, Dr Burashid said he expected electricity consumption to reach an all-time high of 1,740MW during the next few days. According to the official, electricity consumption for the same period last year stood at 1,632MW, adding that electricity consumption was expected to increase by 6.5 per cent over last year. He said people could save electricity by switching off just one air-conditioner during the peak hours.
In a bid to ease the pressure on the demand, a total of 470MW will be provided to the Ministry of Electricity and Water by a private company from the beginning of summer 2006 and would raise the quantity to 1,000MW in 2007, as part of the first move towards the privatisation of the electricity sector, <i>Bahrain Tribune</i> reported Monday.
Dr Burashid also urged people to cut down on water usage during the summer. "We are distributing 101 million gallons daily, with around half of it being consumed by the Central Governorate," he was quoted as saying. "The Central Governorate uses 47m gallons daily, while 24m gallons is being consumed by people in the Capital Governorate, 12.8m gallons in Muharraq and 12.1m gallons in the Northern Governorate."
Dr Burashid said out of the towns and villages in Bahrain, Sitra uses the most water - about 4m gallons daily.
© 2005 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
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