Desalcott to shut down for week for maintenance

THE Desalination Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Desalcott) will be shutting down for just under a week from November 11, to do critical maintenance work on its plant.

Desalcott's acting general manager Rajesh Ragoonanan, during a media conference at the Point Lisas plant on November 7, said work to be undertaken during shutdown included cleaning tanks and wells, repairing cracked concrete infrastructure, repairing sludge-cleaning mechanism, upgrading the communication network, replacing meters and doing annual electrical transformer maintenance.

He said the company hopes to resume operations by November 17.

Desalcott provides the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) with around 40 million gallons daily (mgd) to service customers in Central and South Trinidad, equating to around 40 per cent of the supply to the area.

The shutdown, initially planned for September, was postponed at the request of the Minister of Public Utilities, Marvin Gonzales, owing to WASA's low reservoirs.

In September, the Caroni/Arena reservoir was at 35.8 per cent, the Hollis reservoir at 32.7 per cent and the Navet reservoir at 45.4 per cent.

An update on WASA's Facebook page said as of November 7, the Caroni/Arena reservoir was at 51.7 per cent, the Hollis reservoir  at 57.17 per cent and the Navet reservoir at 48.15 per cent. While in a more favourable position, it's still below their long-term average for the period, which is around 81 to 82 per cent.

"We are not in the best position as it is right now. However, we are a little better and we should be able to facilitate (the shutdown) without any major mishaps," acting WASA CEO Kelvin Romain said at the media conference.

He estimated between 300,000 and 350,000 people would be affected by the shutdown.

However, he said the authority has implemented contingencies to meet demand during the shutdown period. These, he said, include ramping up production at facilities like at Caroni and Navet water treatment plants, providing truck-borne water supply to customers with priority, to schools and health facilities and new water-supply schedules, which will be published by November 8.

He said while the schedule will be adjusted, the authority will not adjust the supply times for those on the extremities of its network, who receive water less frequently than others.

"They usually receive the one (day) in nine (days) upwards, and we are trying to maintain that at its minimum. But customers in this instance who receive a 24/7 supply, they would change to a 24/3, 24/4 in some instances."

While Ragoonanan said Desalcott would be able to return to full service within a few hours of the works' completion, Romain said it could take from 24 hours to a week for operations to return to normal.

A subsequent WASA release advised customers to "maintain/establish a system of storage over the period of the shutdown and to also manage their water use efficiently, by reducing consumption through the observation of water conservation practices."

It said affected customers can access a limited truckborne service on request. This can be requested through the WASA services app available on Play Store or Apple Store or through the customer portal on the authority’s website at www.wasa.gov.tt.