Barrackpore thirsting for WASA water

THE EDITOR: Throughout social media there have been numerous complaints from residents pleading with the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) for a supply of water.

I am from Barrackpore in south Trinidad and I know from personal experience the hardships faced by many in my community to get a regular supply of this most critical thing. Many residents, myself included, are paying for (through our WASA bills) yet not receiving a supply.

One can certainly say we are buying our own misery.

Driving through this area, you can see people filling up containers and barrels at community standpipes because there is no other option. Some have even resorted to doing their laundry by the river. Yes, in 2024, there are many who still wash their clothes down by the river.

Only those who are in it would know what it is like to have to go to work and then use whatever available time there is, be it very early in the morning or late at night, to source some water. And God forbid if you run a one-parent household!

What is even more disheartening is seeing residents who live in “certain areas" who have no issues with water pressure or interruptions in their supply coolly washing their yards, vehicles and being able to do their laundry whenever, because they have the convenience of a regular water supply. Is it that their money has more value than ours?

I have contacted WASA on numerous occasions asking when the supply will be restored, since I have been without a supply for over three months. The response has always been that the area I am in is scheduled to receive a supply the same night or the following week. This promise has never been fulfilled.

My current means of getting a supply is collecting rainwater, which for the time being is far more reliable than the service WASA is mandated to provide.

It seems to me that nobody is concerned with the challenges we, the citizenry, face, especially during these harsh economic times when the cost of living is on a continual rise. I need water, we need water.

WASA personnel have a habit of always apologising when you call, but I wonder, do they really know what it is like to be driving around your community with your children looking for an available standpipe? Sometimes these trips have to be done in the night, at a time when bandits are on the prowl. All to satisfy a most basic yet crucial of needs.

The once quiet community of Barrackpore is now a common name due to an increase in home invasions, robberies and murders. Recently, there was talk about retrenchment of WASA employees, but how are citizens who are suffering on a daily basis expected to sympathise with these workers when over the years there has been no improvement in the one organisation that has a monopoly on supplying water to the nation, and collecting money for it? Where are the powers that be, to render assistance and have this issue resolved?

KAVIR SINGH

Barrackpore