WASA CEO: Limited meters a challenge to water security

With limited metering of pipelines, there are few other means of monitoring the usage of water to prevent wastage, said CEO of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Alan Poon-King at a parliamentary joint select committee on land and infrastructure on Monday.

Responding to questions, at Cabildo Building, St Vincent Street, Port of Spain, on the effectiveness of water conservation measures, Poon-King said it is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of campaigns to clamp down on wastage as there were a limited number of meters installed.

He said while the authority would do their best to advance public information campaigns and enforcement of water regulations, it was necessary for the public to understand the importance of water conservation especially given recent changes in rainfall patterns.

"We have a plan working with the Inter American Development Bank which looks at the supply and demand issue, including the challenges of the metering."

Poon-King said the per capita consumption of water was approximately 290 litres per person, per day which, he said, should be lowered by 60 or 70 per cent to better manage water resources.

Water sector specialist in the Ministry of Public Utilities, Sara Jade Govia, also agreed that metering was an important means of regulating water usage, and suggested that customers may not be billed accurately owing to the absence of meters.

"Because we don't have metering and we have high consumption figures, we tend to use more water than we are actually billed for by WASA."