The annual water problem

On March 5, the Water and Sewerage Authority activated its now-annual ban on the use of hoses.

In previous years, the fine for using a water hose during periods of constrained was just $75, a nuisance fee that too many felt comfortable ignoring. Acting WASA CEO Kelvin Romain said last week that the five national reservoirs are below the long-term averages for this time of year, but his announcement of percentages is unlikely to have any serious effect on the cavalier national attitude to water use.

WASA has information at hand that it should be using to explain the importance of conserving water during this dry season.

Doubling the fleet of water trucks from 30 to 60 is a powerful signal that it is taking the unevenness of distribution nationwide more seriously; but how has water retention in the nation’s reservoirs been trending over the last ten years?

Have citizens responded to previous calls to reduce water consumption during extended dry spells, and if so, in what regions and by how much?

Will any scheduled cuts in the water supply either to effect repairs or to balance water use be communicated more effectively to affected users?

The last three dry seasons have made it clear that the country is in a new era of heat occasioned by climate change.

It’s worrying, then, that the Minister of Public Utilities chose a defensive response to WASA’s water losses, claiming in a full-page advertisement this week that WASA does not lose half of its potable water to leaks, further insinuating that the statement was a media lie.

But in October 2017 – to give just one example – Robert Le Hunte – one of Mr Gonzales’ predecessors as minister – said publicly that WASA lost half its water through 2,000 leaks, but aimed to reduce that to 200 by year-end.

Has there been a change since then? It would have been more useful for Mr Gonzales to clarify any public misunderstanding of WASA’s water losses with hard data.

Particularly since in March 2023, Mr Gonzales told a regional water conference that 40-50 per cent of WASA’s water is lost to leaks and water theft. What is the current status of leak proliferation and water loss? The casual observer can see every leak that WASA fixes in its brittle, ageing system is soon followed, like a spraying hydra, by two more.

Calling on the public to control water use is sensible, but so is an honest evaluation of the authority’s own efforts to control leakage and plans to improve its performance.

In encouraging public support for its conservation efforts, WASA must lead with actionable information to effect change.