Gonzales hopes 70% of country will get water 24/7

PUBLIC Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales is optimistic that within the next three-five months, 70 per cent of consumers across the country could have a 24/7 supply of water.

He identified a series of wells being drilled as one initiative that could bring relief to communities that have been unserved or underserved for years with respect to water.

Gonzales made this comment to the media during a tour of three water well sites in the Freeport-Couva area.

On taking office after the August 10, 2020 general election, Gonzales said he was briefed on water-supply issues in different areas.

With respect to Freeport-Couva, he was told the Desalination Company of TT's (Desalcott) Point Lisas plant and the Water and Sewerage Authority's (WASA) Caroni water treatment plant were the main sources of water for these areas.

Gonzales noted that when either of these facilities experience disruptions in their production schedules, it can mean communities who receive water once every nine days are without water for two-three weeks.

This could lead to some residents staging public protests.

Against this background, Gonzales said, "We decided to identify some rich aquifers in this area to improve water supply."

He added that an $800 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will help Government improve the supply to communities that are either unserved or underserved.

Gonzales said in the first phase of this initiative, three new wells (at the sites he visited on Monday) will be drilled. An existing well in California will be rehabilitated.

He said three additional wells will also be drilled in the Freeport area, "bringing a total of six new wells in this area."

Gonzales identified under-performance at WASA's Freeport water treatment plant as another challenge to the water supply there.

The plant isproducing two million gallons of water daily, when its maximum production is three million gallons a day.

Gonzales said, "All of these things are contributing to poor water supply in this community."

He was confident that the production could be increased to five million gallons of water a day, to cater for the higher volume that will be accessed from the new water wells.

Gonzales said leaking transmission lines in the area will be repaired as well. He said WASA had identified high iron content as the main reason why the lines become corroded easily.

He added that similar efforts to access ground and surface water will be undertaken in Mayaro and Sangre Grande/Manzanilla to improve the supply to communities in these areas.