Wallerfield woman still waiting for WASA, HDC to fix sewage leak

Newsday reported on Monday on the sewage running through her yard, and Nicole De Silva was promised the cavalry would come.

But she told Newsday they did not show.

De Silva, of Demerara Heights, Wallerfield, said she has filed complaints with both the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) on several occasions since 2008 to no avail.

She said because of a choke in the line, sewage, including faecal matter and toilet paper from her neighbours, backs up and overflows onto her property from a line that emerges from the ground at the side of her house.

The area does not have a constant supply of water and her neighbours are usually grateful for running water – but she is not. She said when many people are using the line, the sewage backs up in her yard.

“Right now we have water, and I don’t like to have water (because) the stench is backing up,” said De Silva on Tuesday.

An HDC representative contacted De Silva last week and told her a representative from WASA would come on Monday to fix the problem, because the HDC does not have the equipment to work on the line.

De Silva said when no one came, she contacted the WASA representative, but was told the equipment is still in central Trinidad. She said he could not say when it would be available, but promised to call her when it did.

Last week, she said, the office of her MP, Foster Cummings, contacted her after she filed a complaint with him. She said a representative from his office contacted her on Tuesday to follow up.

“I told them that HDC came (on Saturday) but they didn’t find out what the problem was.”

De Silva said the representative promised to forward the information to a supervisor.