Residents of Beetham Gardens are cautiously optimistic that a recent visit by Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds and Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales result in repairs to ruptured sewer lines that are causing a strong stench in their community.
The ministers, accompanied by technicians from the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), viewed the canal which separates Phase One and Phase Two, Beetham Gardens, during a site visit to the area yesterday.
However, some residents said the visit is the latest in a series and the promised interventions have never materialised.
Residents of Main Street, who live near the canal, said they are the most affected by the stench.
Hinds, Gonzales and their entourage were shown the bank of the canal where the water level was high enough to almost reach nearby houses.
One resident, Barbara Adams complained that children in the area are falling ill because of the stench. Her house is located on the bank of the canal and she expressed concern that the rising level of the dirty water is a serious health concern to residents, especially during heavy rains.
“When the rain falls, all here in the front of my house, even inside my kitchen, it leaks through the walls,” Adams said.
“We must wash it out with Clorox and disinfectant and there are children here living with this too. Sometimes you wake up on a morning with chest pains, we’ve been through several times.”
Adams says the high water levels have not subsided for two weeks and children living nearby have developed sores and rashes.
“We will have to wait and see what happens,” she said.
Another resident complained that ruptured sewage lines have also caused problems in other parts of the community the latest incident required immediate relief.
“We’re asking them to give us some quick help because we accustomed waiting all kind of eight and ten years for help,” he said.
“The entire Beetham is having a sewage problem where sewage water is coming into people’s place because the lines here are all 30 to 40 years. We talk about it many times and nothing has been done.”