Gonzales: WASA working to mitigate water supply shortages

PUBLIC Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales on Tuesday said the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) is working to mitigate the impacts of disruptions in water supply to residents of parts of Central and South Trinidad, due to distribution problems at the Desalination Company of TT's (Desalcott's) desal plant at Point Lisas.

.On April 9, WASA said the Desalcott plant - which normally supplies WASA with 40 million gallons of water per day - has reduced its production to 36 million gallons due to “high algae concentrations at this time in the raw sea water at the intake area of the plant.”

WASA added that conditions were being closely monitored. Full production is expected "as soon as conditions allow."

While he has not received any updates regarding the status of production at Desalcott's plant,. Gonzales said he met earlier in the day with WASA'S acting CEO Kelvin Romain and authority chairman Ravindra Nanga to discuss mitigating measures to reduce the impact of water shortages on customers.

"One of the measures we are looking at is redirecting some supplies from communities that enjoy 24/7 to ensure that communties that receive a lower level of service, for example one in seven days, are not impacted."

Asked how WASA would achieve the right balance would be achieved so that no customers in the affected areas are unduly disadvantaged by redirecting water supplies, Gonzales said, "It is a dynamic process that requires measurement and management of flows and pressure.

He added, " I want to personally assure rhe residents of Central and South Trinidad that whilst this is outside of the control of WASA, the authority will do its part to mitigate the impact in its customers

At a news conference at the ministry's St Clair office on March 24, Desalcott managing director John Thompson said a high build up of algae in the plant's pipes had affected its water distribution.

He said when the Pt Lisas plant opened in 2006, there were no algal blooms, but rising sea-water temperatures caused by climate change had made the phenomenon more severe in recent times.

Thompson said steps have been taken to reduce blockage in the plant’s intake system, but the sheer volume of algae remains a challenge.

Thompson said the key to dealing with these large volumes of algae was microfiltration, to ease the strain on the existing filtration system.

He said additional investments would introduce microfiltration, but this was costly as well as time-consuming.

“It’s quite an expensive system – we’re talking millions of US dollars – and it won’t be quick, we’re talking about somewhere in the region of 12 months.

“Perhaps in 2024, we are also improving our back-washing system so we can clean the medium filters more quickly than we do at the moment."

Desalcott officials were unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

Some of the affected areas include Marabella, Debe, Chaguanas, Debe, Cunupia and Fyzabad.