Water in Debe after a month of waiting

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They have been waiting for more than a month to get water and on Tuesday night, some Debe residents finally received a trickle of water in their pipelines.

While some parts of Ramai Trace had a full supply for several hours, others in the higher regions of Congo Village, Mohess Road and Transfer Village were still praying to get a water supply.

At Temple Trace, Sahadaye Dharam said she was able to fill up her three tanks.

“We don’t use much water so we will try to make this last. Before last night we did not have water for two weeks,” she said.

Another resident Harrilal Partap said he was grateful for the relief but said many other residents did not get the opportunity to fill their tanks because the water pressure was too low.

At Congo Village, Guardian Media met up with Baldath Boochoon and his neighbour Winston Gopaul who were filling water kegs, buckets and two barrels on the tray of a van.

Holding up his WASA bill, Boochoon said he had a credit on his WASA bill yet he had not received any water.

“We have been going from standpipe to standpipe four miles from here to see if we can fill these barrels. We reach Clarke Road. This is what we have to go through,” Boochoon added.

He said WASA was sending water for other areas but the people of Congo Village were suffering the most.

Gopaul chastised Minister of Public Utilities Fitzgerald Hinds for saying the complaints about water shortages were exaggerated.

“Let him come down here and see for himself whether there is water in the pipes. He doesn’t know what he talking about. In some areas people have not had water in there weeks even though their water bills are up to date,” Gopaul said.

Claudette Persad said last year they formed a village council and went by their MP Dr Roodal Moonilal to complain.

“We did not get any relief. This year we have the same problems. The last time we get water in here was in February,” she added.

She said most residents in Congo pay a private water truck $350 for four 400 gallon tanks of water.

Maltee Balliram also showed her almost empty tanks.

“This is not fair to us. All of us pay our bills. Why should we have to wait so long to get water,” she asked.

Contacted for comment, MP Moonilal said arrangements were being made to provide a truck borne supply of water to residents who live on the higher regions of Congo Village.

Meanwhile, owner of Sanker Persad said the sale of water tanks has escalated since the water crisis. He said he was selling 10 tanks per day. A 1,000-gallon tank was priced at $1,900 and Persad said many people were investing in tanks with the hope that when water comes, they will fill up.

“Some people have no water to cook, wash or bathe. It is a terrible situation,” he added.

On Monday, Acting Chief Executive Officer of WASA Alan Poon King said the harsh dry weather conditions have impacted on WASA’s water reserves.

“In April we experienced the second-lowest level of rainfall on record. For May, they had a projection and we were working with that but the rainfall was again way below that projection,” he said.

He noted that Barrackpore is supplied by the Navet plant which is at 85 or 90 per cent of production capacity.

“Overall we are at 20 per cent overall below the optimum level of production. We normally produce 243 million gallons per day when we have water available but now we are currently producing 200 million gallons per day and that is a significant deficit,” he added.

Poon King said those residents who get water should use it wisely and conserve.