Water woes in East Port of Spain

A resident of Johnson Lane, East Port of Spain is pleading with WASA to fix the problems with pipe-borne water in the area. He said he has not had water for weeks.

Newsday spoke to George Duncan who said he did not realise there was no pipe-borne water until he turned on the tap and no water came out. It was then he realised his two 400-gallon tanks were empty.

“That means it’s a very long time I didn’t get any water here. We have no water, we are in the middle of a pandemic, I have no water to do anything. I have a sink-full of wares, a washing machine full of clothes, all over the house things need cleaning, I have to bathe, I have to use my toilet, I have absolutely no water. I need water urgently, how am I going to sanitise without water? I have to leave here and go by my sister in Trincity to bathe.”

He said this is not the first time this has occurred, owing to a recurring problem with a connection to the grid.

“Apparently whoever is in charge of sending out the turncock to turn on the water, not turning it on. There was a problem also with these lines. Whoever is turning off the water they forgot they were supposed to attach this line to the lines that are getting water every day. They were supposed to do that years ago but it hasn’t happened yet.

“In colonial days water used to come straight to this house. Look how far we are from that, and I can’t get water.”

Duncan said other streets in the area were also affected. He said, as a nationwide authority, WASA should have a system to know when people’s water supply was halted, and when to return it.

Councillor for East Dry River Clint Baptiste said he was aware of the problem and had been liaising with WASA to get it fixed. He confirmed it was a recurring problem.

“WASA was having issues with a pump up at the Picton station and had been trying to rectify it. In Mr Duncan’s area, that’s the Johnson/Basilon Street area, they haven’t been getting water because the pressure isn’t high enough to reach the area, and due to it being a hotspot, the WASA water trucks don’t really go into the area.

“I’ve been liaising with the area manager and he told me that as soon as they got the station up and running properly at the Picton pumping station, everyone should get back water as per their schedule.

“The pump at the Picton reservoir goes very often and WASA has been trying to rectify it for a very long while now and they haven’t been successful so far.”

Acting manager corporate communications Gregory Roxborough said he had passed the information to the district engineer in Port of Spain and had hoped to get feedback on Friday.