In the February before this project the pressure dropped in the middle of the island for nine days, and the office spent that fortnight telling people different things because it did not have a single figure to tell them.
The tank was the physical half: a second storage tank giving about a day and a half of reserve instead of half a day, plus the pipework to let the guesthouse end be filled independently overnight.
The board was the half that changed behaviour. Every morning the day's production and the previous day's draw are written on a board outside the council office in figures anybody can read. It cost nothing and it ended the argument, because a guesthouse manager who can see that the island drew more than the plant made does not need to be persuaded to fill overnight.
In the two Februaries since, the overnight filling arrangement has been asked for once and accepted without a meeting. Pressure has not dropped.
The plant itself belongs to the utility and this project did not touch it, which is worth saying because people assume the council fixed the plant. It did not. It built somewhere to put the water and told everybody the truth about how much there was.
