3 month water leak frustrates Beetham resident

Ashar Leana outside her home at 13th Street Beetham Gardens where a leaking WASA line inside her yard has been flooding her home since March. - SUREASH CHOLAI
Ashar Leana outside her home at 13th Street Beetham Gardens where a leaking WASA line inside her yard has been flooding her home since March. - SUREASH CHOLAI

A leaking water main is causing daily stress and anxiety to a household in Beetham Gardens.

Ashar Leana said the leak has been there since March and frequent calls to the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) have had no result.

Leana said while water leaks into the house steadily, it is worse in the night because other people are using less water.

Ashar Leana showing how water has accumulated under her carpet in her living room at her home at 13th Street Beetham Gardens caused by a leaking WASA line in her yard that has being flooding her home since March. - SUREASH CHOLAI

The water comes in through the gallery and the kitchen and eventually overflows to the pavement.

She said her sleeping patterns have been affected, as she gets up every day between 4 am and 5 am to mop and sweep up water. She said this has affected her physically as she had major abdominal surgery last year and the constant bending has her in pain, while mentally it is disheartening to know there was no end to the leak no matter how many times she cleaned up.

She said her mother has had to be hospitalised due to the stress of the situation.

The two have made multiple calls, e-mails and requests to WASA since March. She said the response is always that the matter will be handed over to the relevant authorities.

Ashar Leana points to a hole in the ground in her yard at 13th Street Beetham Gardens where water coming up from a leaking WASA main has been flooding her home since March - SUREASH CHOLAI

But no one has come to fix the problem. She said at one point a customer service representative told her the leak was not a priority.

“I messaged, called, e-mailed – the app doesn’t work, when you put in your co-ordinates it starts loading and never leaves the loading screen.

"I get the same response via e-mail as on the phone. They telling us to conserve water – but the water been wasting since March and there are other areas that can’t get water. How much water waste from March to now?”

Leana speculated that WASA might be wary of coming to her house because ten years ago her brother was killed by a WASA truck on the Priority Bus Route, but she said if this is so, then failing to fix the situation was only making it worse for the company.

Leana said the Beetham/Picton councillor Akil Audain knows of the problem, and she was told that current Public Utilities Minister and Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds is also aware of the issue.

She said she is just tired and is reaching out to the media to help get the situation resolved.

Contacted by Newsday, Audain said he he had been told that hopefully next week WASA will tackle the problem. He said Leana's was one of three leaks in the area currently, along with others in his electoral district, that he is working with WASA to resolve.

He said the covid19 situation has put a strain on the authority and they are fixing leaks as best they can.

Communications officer at WASA Daniel Plenty said he would look into the matter.

Calls to Hinds’ phone went unanswered.

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"3 month water leak frustrates Beetham resident"

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