Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
Acting CEO of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Kelvin Romain is promising a water supply to all customers affected by the nine-day shutdown of the Point Lisas Desalination Plant. He gave the assurance during a press conference at the Desalcott plant at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate yesterday.
The Desalcott shutdown, which started yesterday, is to facilitate maintenance and repairs to the plant.
Romain explained that Desalcott is contracted to supply WASA with 40 million gallons of water a day, of which 12 to 15 million gallons go to the industrial estate and the remainder to its distribution network for customers in south Trinidad.
He said while WASA will be negatively affected by the shutdown, they plan to supplement with supply from the Caroni and Navet Water Treatment Plants and the Desalination plant in Point Fortin.
“What I want to assure our customers of is that we would have a schedule in place to ensure business continuity, meaning that because of the deficit, we would have to add additional supply, and we would have customers who would have experience 24/7 supply and 24/5 supply with a reduce amount of supply, but a consistent supply during the week, albeit at intermittent days and that would facilitate other customers on the system who would have reeled from the deficit to get a supply,” he explained.
Romain said customers who only receive truck borne water will continue to receive a supply and truck-borne water will be available to other customers upon request.
“I want to assure our customers that during this period we expect that everyone would receive a supply, albeit through some schedules,” he said.
On the issue of staff cuts during the restructuring of WASA, Romain said his job might also be on the chopping block.
Desalcott managing director John Thompson explained that the plant has to shut down once a year for maintenance to ensure it is reliable during the dry season but they would try to complete the work ahead of schedule.
Thompson said climate change and algae posed challenges, but Desalcott continues to provide a supply “very close to its contractual agreement”. He said the shortfall could be between half and five per cent.
While Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales has spoken about reducing WASA’s reliance on Desalcott, Thompson said they are committed to continue supplying WASA for the foreseeable future.
“We are also undertaking a project to put in a new bypass product tank which will enable us to keep shutdowns short in the future. Maintenance of the product tank is a lengthy operation, taking at least ten days, but once we put this bypass tank in, we will do it without taking the plant offline,” he said.
There are no water restrictions in place, but WASA’s Corporate Communications Manager Daniel Plenty encouraged customers to conserve water during the shutdown and contact the utility’s online customer service portal and its WASA services app.
