Loversville Lane’s 10-year thirst: Irregular water supply for east Trinidad community

RESIDENTS of Loversville Lane in Coalmine, Sangre Grande claim they have not had a consistent water supply in over ten years.

Residents added that they get water “for a couple hours” every two to three weeks.

An irate resident, Sita Pardassie said, “Every few weeks whenever they decide to turn on the water it’s late at night, usually after we’re asleep so we don’t even know we can fill up.”

Pardassie comes from a household of five including two children. Her husband who suffered a stroke is unable to move about.

“It’s even more difficult caring for a stroke patient when you don’t have water. He can’t care for himself so I wash his clothes and clean up after him.”

She said the family collects rainwater in containers and fill empty bottles with water whenever they are able to.

Asked about receiving a truck-borne water supply, she said, “They never come, I’ve only ever once seen a truck come up here to fill the neighbour’s tank, and that was a fire truck.” Pardassie said she and her husband have been living at Loversville Lane for over 30 years.

Another resident, Margaret Modest, who has lived in Loversville Lane for 20 years, said, “The problem has been going on so long I can’t even say exactly how long, but it’s more than half of the time we’ve been living here.”

Modest said she and other residents have complained to WASA on several occasions. “When we complain we are told to come into the office to fill out a form for truck-borne water from the county administration of St Andrew. But when we do, we still don’t get water as the truck drivers do not want to come up here.”

She said, “Last year one neighbour was able to get water from the fire service and they thankfully shared the water with some of us.”

Asked how she manages to keep her home and prepare food, she said, “I’ve set up a catchment system for whenever it rains so rainwater from my roof fills our tanks. I’m thankful that these days there’s a good bit of rain but usually during dry season we really suffer, especially when there is a lot of Sahara dust in the air. I always try to keep one tank full specifically for drinking and cooking.”

Modest said, “It is unfair that we get a WASA bill every three months but only get water for a few hours over the entire period we are billed.”

Vice chairman of the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation Glen Ram said both he and Mayaro MP Rushton Paray are aware of complaints by the residents of Loversville Lane and Coalmine over the lack of water.

“The MP became aware of the water issues faced by residents of Loversville Lane during a hamper distribution exercise, however we were only able to meet with the residents on March 1, after things with the pandemic settled,” Ram said.

Ram said the corporation and MP Paray have been liaising with the minister of public utilities and WASA to find ways to alleviate the stress being felt by the residents.

“The entire Coalmine area has been faced with water issues for a prolonged period and the MP’s office has mapped out the constituency’s water issues to be addressed,” Ram said.

When contacted, WASA’s communications manager Daniel Plenty said, “The area is on a schedule of water twice per week. “Customers affected are at the extremities of the distribution area and have been receiving an inconsistent supply. The authority will be investigating the issues experienced by these customers with the aim of improving the service.

“The authority will maintain contact with these customers in this regard.”