MP: People paying $3,000 for water in Couva South

COUVA South MP Rudranath Indarsingh said there is a water crisis in his constituency and homeowners claim they are paying as much as $3,000 for a truckload of water.

Indarsingh is appealing to the Minister of Public Utilities and the CEO of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to bring some relief to his constituents.

Indarsingh said he had received complaints from residents in Indian Trail, Dow Village, Calcutta Road number 2, among other areas about the dire situation they are experiencing for over one week. He said calls to WASA to request a truck borne supply had fallen on deaf ears. Because of this, contractors are taking advantage of the situation and are charging homeowners and business concerns as much as $3,000 to supply a truck load of water.

The MP said the crisis had spread to schools in the area. “This morning I got a call from teachers at the Couva West Secondary School with a request to use the Multi-Purpose Hall, next to my office, to host a function because there was no water at their school. “

“It seems as though WASA has collapsed under this Minister of Public Utilities Robert Le Hunte. People cannot get a daily supply of water. We don’t know what is happening with the Desalination Plant. Every month or so the Desal plant is down.”

He said even though the country was warned that this would be one of the harshest dry seasons, “This is only the second month of the year. I shudder to think what would happen during the middle of the dry season. People are desperate and are paying exorbitant sums for water."

Indarsingh said the dry spell had not only affected his constituency and referred to similar concerns raised by his colleagues, Dr Bhoe Tewarie in Caroni Central and by MP Rushton Parray in Mayaro.