Senior Reporter
shaliza.hassanali@guardian.co.tt
Decreasing water levels at the Hollis Reservoir will affect approximately 10,000 Water and Sewerage Authority’s (WASA) customers in parts of north east Trinidad from Arouca to Valencia in the coming days.
Acting CEO Kelvin Romain, who spoke about the looming water supply problems at a press conference yesterday, warned that as soon as the country enters the harsh 2024 dry season, WASA might have to implement harsher water restrictions.
He blamed climate change for the reduction in supply, stating that even though the country is in the rainy season, there has been little rainfall to fill the Hollis Reservoir which is currently at 43 per cent capacity. The long-term average of the reservoir for this time is usually 73 per cent.
“As a result of the low levels we have to do some curtailment, unfortunately,” Romain said.
On Saturday, WASA advised customers served by the Hollis Water Treatment Plant that water supply schedules had been temporarily amended to manage operations at the reservoir.
Production at the plant is normally 8.4 million gallons a day. However, WASA’s production level has been reduced to 5.5 million gallons a day.
WASA advised customers at the extremities or elevated areas of the Hollis distribution system that they might experience low pressures or no water.
“We have to cut back. That is a 2.9 million gallons per day deficit,” Romain said.
He added that WASA has to develop short, medium- and long-term strategies to deal with “hard-hit areas” and has been tightening its leak drive, managing distribution through bulk meters, supplying customers with truck-borne water and will soon dig three wells to provide an additional one million gallons of water daily.
“What you will see in the near future will be some modular desalination plants throughout the country,” he said.
Romain said areas such as Icacos, Moruga and Mayaro will benefit from the plants which will be powered by solar energy.
He said the Hollis Reservoir services approximately 50,000 people directly and indirectly who will all be affected by the decreasing water levels.
“What we anticipate is a fall out of about 10,000 or less customers who could be adversely affected,” he added.
In response to customer complaints that the truck-borne water supply is slow, Romain said WASA is not waiting for customers to call their hotline centre but has been distributing water to those in need.
“We have been filling people’s tanks,” he insisted.
However, he said some customers are not practicing water conservation and WASA is actively looking for people who abuse the essential commodity.
“Trust me, you will see something in the near future about that. We don’t have any restrictions right now but based on the developments and what we are experiencing right now, we expect to. We are approaching a dry season. We expect the dry season to be a bit harsh, so restrictions are most likely imminent,” he said.
Asked if WASA is considering stiffer fines for violators, Romain said for that to be done laws will have to be revised.
“The current fine under the Water and Sewage Act is $75 and because households are not metered, people tend to use more water,” he said.
Romain said while many customers have been paying their WASA bills, the utility is owed $600 million in arrears by delinquent residential customers.
“We are getting some customers to pay but the problem is people justify their position because they have an inconsistent supply or they don’t have a supply at all,” he said.
The WASA CEO described yesterday’s water protests by Granville and Cedros residents as “unfortunate” but said he empathises “with any customer who is irate about not receiving a supply.”
“We were actually doing some resource management,” he said. “We were shifting resources to harder hit areas like Icacos. The Granville area, I believe Syfoo Trace … they receive a 24/7 supply. As of Wednesday gone we would have cut back the supply so we could send more water to Icacos.”
