Le Hunte: WASA has plans for harsh dry season

UPDATE:

Public Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte yesterday said the ministry and the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) have a plan in place to deal with 2019’s predicted harsh dry season.

Speaking to Newsday, Le Hunte said the ministry and WASA were constantly reviewing their plans to try to mitigate the impact of a water shortage in 2019.

He said TT is entering the dry season with most of the dams at the required level.

“Most of them are fairly filled,” he said, “so we are starting from a good place.

“But ultimately we need everyone to be on board in conserving their water supply. We have been talking about conservation, and therefore if we are entering a harsh dry season, we are entering with the supply up to the level — but it will forever require a lot of increased conservation activities, especially earlier in the year, when we have water.

The impact will be felt more strongly later on, he warned.

“How we manage the dams and the water early in the year is going to be significant. I have been telling people that conservation is really a habit, you can’t really get into conservation only during the dry season. You have to conserve water all around.”

Le Hunte said WASA will also be improving and increasing its raising of public awareness about conservation at an early stage.
He said while WASA and the ministry can do the job, the final impact really is going to be on citizens to listen and put into practice, which he has no control over.

“It is really going to be up to us as citizens. I can talk about conservation. and we are starting at a place where we have the water in the dams – but would people listen? That is where the final test is going to come.

He also pointed out, that the ministry had “inherited legacy issues,” one of which is aged infrastructure.

“We have to put things into perspective. It is not just one line, we have 7,500 kilometers of pipe throughout the country. “Therefore the issue of changing out all of the pipes will be a very expensive process and it would need to be done on a phased basis.”

He said last year the authorities corrected about 20,000 leaks, “and we are looking to carrying that number up from 20,000 to 30,000.”
But the task was not as simple as changing the lines.

“I want to encourage everyone, when they see leaks around the country, not only to call it in, but to take a picture and report it on our WASA app. The app allows a person to take a picture of the leak and forward it to WASA.

It helps WASA to fix the leak faster.”

In addition, “We are also deploying a lot more of the staff at WASA in the leak management programmes. We have increased the crews that are working to fix the leaks.”

ORIGINAL STORY:

Public Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte today said the ministry and the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) a plan in place to deal with 2019 harsh dry season.

Speaking to Newsday, Le Hunte said the ministry along with WASA are constantly reviewing their plans to ensure they try to mitigate the impact of water shortage in 2019 during the harsh dry season.

He said TT is entering the dry season with most of the dams being at the level they are required to be.

“Most of them are fairly filled so we are starting from a good place but ultimately we need everyone to be on board in conserving their water supply. We have been talking about conservation and therefore if we are entering a harsh dry season, we are entering with the supply up to the level but it will forever require a lot of increased conservation activities especially earlier in the year when we have water.

“However, as you go down to the later part of the dry season that is where the impact will be felt greater. How we manager the dams and the water early in the year is going to be significant. I have been telling people that conservation is really a habit, you can’t really get into conservation only during the dry season you have to conserve water all around.”