Water levels in the country's reservoirs are now at 35 per cent.
This was revealed yesterday by new WASA chief executive officer Andrew Smith at a media conference at the authority's headquarters St Joseph. Smith confirmed that water levels in the nation's reservoirs now stood at 35 per cent, almost half of what it should be this time of year. He said the recent rainfall had not affected the low water levels, but had slowed the rate at which the dams were drying up. Smith, a British national whose appointment took effect on April 12, said the country was still in a drought and reminded citizens to continue all conservation efforts.
Discussing his appointment as WASA CEO, Smith said the issues being faced by WASA were not uncommon and were similar in international water supply companies. He said the main problems faced by WASA were lack of customer service, failure to meet customer expectations and the need for better infrastructure. He said, however, that he found the team at WASA had an "appetite" for change and shared the same vision as to where WASA needed to be. Smith said he was confident that change could be made and WASA was currently three months into an 18-month restructuring programme. Updating the population on the authority's efforts to sustain the water supply, he said a main in Diego Martin had just been completed to provide a more sustainable supply of water to residents.
Smith said a water pressure management scheme had been introduced. He said it entailed the lowering of water pressure in some of the country's mains to ease the strain put on pipes and to reduce water wastage in the form of leaks. Smith said WASA had begun to source water from new wells that were currently producing two million gallons of water a day. He said by May, the wells should be producing an extra million a day. He said since February, 13,000 leaks had been repaired. Smith said for future plans, the authority had contracted Mekoroti, an Israeli company to share their expertise on WASA's future projects. He said Mekoroti had been hired to provide design assistance, engineering and construction procurement. When questioned about past allegations of corruption at WASA, Smith said he came to T&T with no baggage or hidden agendas.
He said he was ensuring that framework was being put in place to curb and prevent corrupt actions. Smith urged the public not to forget the lessons they had learned during the drought and to continue water preservation practices.