Ot­to Car­ring­ton

Se­nior Re­porter

ot­to.car­ring­ton@cnc3.co.tt

Ch­aguara­mas/Pt Cumana coun­cil­lor Kevon Williams claims res­i­dents are fac­ing sys­tem­at­ic vic­tim­i­sa­tion through pro­longed wa­ter dis­rup­tions, ac­cus­ing the Wa­ter and Sew­er­age Au­thor­i­ty (WASA) of of­fer­ing shift­ing ex­pla­na­tions while com­mu­ni­ties en­dure weeks and, in some cas­es, months with­out a sup­ply.

“With­out a doubt in my mind, I know this is a form of sys­tem­at­ic vic­tim­i­sa­tion,” Williams al­leged.

He claimed that re­pairs once com­plet­ed with­in a day were now tak­ing weeks, while re­peat­ed ap­peals from res­i­dents and their rep­re­sen­ta­tives had failed to se­cure re­li­able ser­vice. “I be­lieve the com­mu­ni­ty is re­ceiv­ing sys­tem­at­ic vic­tim­i­sa­tion un­der the dis­guise of var­i­ous lev­els of ser­vice in­ter­rup­tions,” he said.

Cit­ing prob­lems in­volv­ing boost­er sta­tions serv­ing the area, in­clud­ing School Street and Scor­pi­on Street, Williams claimed WASA of­fi­cials had al­so re­port­ed chlo­rine-line prob­lems, elec­tri­cal faults, me­chan­i­cal is­sues and low pres­sure.

“They keep mov­ing the bulls­eye,” he said.

Williams claimed re­pair work, which would have tak­en ap­prox­i­mate­ly 24 hours be­fore April 2025, was now stretch­ing in­to two or three weeks, ques­tion­ing why rou­tine pump re­pairs and main­te­nance were tak­ing so long.

He said the dis­rup­tions ex­tend­ed across Care­nage, Ch­aguara­mas and Point Cumana, de­scrib­ing the sit­u­a­tion as un­prece­dent­ed.

Williams iden­ti­fied Point Cumana and Up­per L’Anse Mi­tan as ar­eas where res­i­dents had re­port­ed­ly been with­out wa­ter for months. In Smith Hill, he said, the wait had stretched in­to weeks, while Neck­les Dri­ve and Up­per Haig Street were al­so af­fect­ed.

“We have nev­er re­ceived a con­sis­tent sched­ule that the peo­ple could plan their dai­ly lives around with this par­tic­u­lar is­sue,” he said. He al­so claimed there were 35 wells in the wider Ch­aguara­mas area ca­pa­ble of sup­ply­ing Care­nage and neigh­bour­ing com­mu­ni­ties, ques­tion­ing why res­i­dents were still strug­gling to ob­tain wa­ter.

“Wa­ter is a ba­sic ne­ces­si­ty,” he said. “My res­i­dents are just call­ing out for ser­vice, just to go on with their dai­ly lives.”

Res­i­dent Obiku Law­er­ence al­so ex­pressed frus­tra­tion over what was de­scribed as a con­tin­u­ing lack of clear in­for­ma­tion from WASA.

Law­er­ence said re­peat­ed calls to the au­thor­i­ty pro­duced dif­fer­ent ex­pla­na­tions, leav­ing res­i­dents un­cer­tain about the prob­lems af­fect­ing their sup­ply. Law­er­ence de­scribed the sit­u­a­tion as dis­heart­en­ing. “I don’t know why it is hap­pen­ing, but it’s re­al frus­trat­ing to cit­i­zens and to the com­mu­ni­ty,” Law­er­ence said.

“It’s re­al frus­trat­ing.”

Up­per Haig Street res­i­dent Ger­ald By­er claimed even the trucks dis­patched to pro­vide re­lief have been un­able to fill his tanks. By­er, who lives near the top of the street, said neigh­bours fur­ther down­hill some­times re­ceived wa­ter while his home re­mained with­out a sup­ply.

“Some­times the wa­ter will come,” he said, ex­plain­ing that neigh­bours would call to tell him they were re­ceiv­ing wa­ter.

“I am not get­ting.”

By­er said he had a WASA ac­count and kept up with his pay­ments. He said when he con­tact­ed the au­thor­i­ty about his sup­ply prob­lems, arrange­ments were made for truck-borne wa­ter.

How­ev­er, he said the de­liv­ery crew ar­rived and told him their 100-foot hose could not reach his tanks.

“So, what is my next move?” he asked.

Guardian Me­dia con­tact­ed WASA’s Cor­po­rate Com­mu­ni­ca­tion De­part­ment for a com­ment, as well as Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Bar­ry Padarath, but none was re­ceived up to late yes­ter­day evening.