MP: 80% of Mayaro without pipe-borne water

NOT yet recovered from the devastating floods which wreaked havoc in Mayaro last week, more than 80 per cent of businesses and residents are now facing another crisis.

MP Rushton Paray said Mayaro is facing a water-supply crisis, and made an urgent appeal to WASA to spare the constituency, especially the elderly and infirm, from another disaster.

In a release on Thursday, Paray said constituents who are trying to recover from the flooding have been without pipe-borne water for the past few days.

“The communities of the Mayaro constituency and its environs continues to face an appalling shortage of pipe-borne water, moreover, after the disastrous flood last week. More than 80 per cent of the districts have been without a supply over the past few days, some going into weeks.”

The situation is further aggravated by the lack of a regular, efficient truck-borne service, he said.

“Residents are made to wait several days for truck services. On top of that distressing situation, WASA has not been communicating with residents.”

Senior officials of WASA, he said, had refused his invitation to attend a town hall meeting in Mayaro to discuss the crisis.

Additionally, he said WASA has failed to respond to a proposal he submitted asking for improved communication and a scheduled water-trucking service.

“Thousands of residents and business operators are without this precious commodity and have no knowledge of when they could expect a trucking service. WASA’s indifference is adding insult to injury (to) thousands of affected people, many of whom are still cleaning up after the recent historic floods.

“I make an urgent public appeal for WASA to show some sensitivity to the plight of the people of southeast Trinidad who are enduring one disaster after another."

At a news conference on Wednesday, WASA’s acting CEO Kelvin Romain said about 115,000 people in Sangre Grande and Siparia were also without pipe-borne water.

He attributed this to the five-day shutdown of the desalination plant at Point Lisas for maintenance, and over-full rivers causing silt at water intakes and leaks in cross-country mains.

Newsday sent a message to Romain, who gave out a cell number for the public to directly address concerns to him via WhatsApp. Romain acknowledged receipt of the message but is yet to respond further.