Nelson St HDC residents get water at last

AFTER four months of pleading, a water supply has finally returned to residents of 66-68 Nelson Street, Port of Spain.

Some 24 apartments at the Housing Development Corporation complex were without running water since April. They have been filling buckets and barrels from other apartments on the compound, and getting water from friends and family who live elsewhere.

Some tenants told Newsday on August 2 they were regularly reporting to the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and the HDC but to no avail. An article was published the following day.

On August 7, WASA replied with a letter saying the problem was caused by a corroded pipeline and they were “working towards” resolving it as work began on August 3.

However, Dike Noel, senior manager of corporate communications at the HDC, told Newsday all tenants were expected to have running water since August 6.

Tenants told Newsday, at that point, water had only returned to the ground floor and in short supply. They said the HDC told them they were waiting to get one more piece of material.

Newsday contacted Noel on Tuesday and he said WASA would complete the work on Wednesday.

Yesterday, tenants told Newsday they were “very happy” and “relieved” that they finally have water again.

“We got water last night—everybody. It was a little dirty last night, but it started coming out clear this morning,” said one tenant.