Talks on managing TT’s water

Speaking at a public consultation on the draft revised policy, held Monday at the Water and Sewerage Authority’s Sports Club at WASA headquarters, Farm Road, St Joseph, Nazir Nabbie, a consultant with Trinsult Associates Limited - which drafted the policy under the guidance of a Cabinet- appointed steering committee - said the proposed authority should not have to depend on the government to subsidise its operations.

In outlining highlights of the plan, Nabbie said WASA produced 382 million cubic metres of water last year but 148 million cubic metres of that was lost in transmission. He added that if the authority could manage to reduce those losses it could delay the need for new water treatment plants. According to Nabbie, the losses can be reduced through a rigorous programme of detection and control and by universal metering.

His colleague, Dr Alnoor Allidina, said that research and development is an important element of the policy document because one of the basic principles of the policy is reliable access to sufficient potable water. He said there must be enough water to support life regardless of citizen’s ability to pay for the water. Outlining the principles which will guide the way water is allocated under the proposed policy, he said it will be to support the economic requirements of the economy as well as its social and environmental functions.

He said other priority areas will be domestic, ecological, industrial and commercial. He said only one percent of potable water is used for drinking and if water is needed for agricultural purposes then it means that water consumption will go up.

In a speech read on his behalf by his adviser Jamila Draper, former Minister of Public Utilities Ancil Antoine said the policy is necessary now more than ever before because of the many pressures being faced in the provision of water supplies both in this country and around the world. She read that “urbanisation, industrial and agricultural development, global warming and the resultant climate change – all of these threaten the continued availability of clean, unpolluted water and it is up to us to work together to ensure that this most precious resource is sustainably managed.” When the floor was opened for comment from the public, Kenneth Kerr, Assistant Director of the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Services, was the first speaker and observed that while the policy document spoke about the impact of climate change, climate variability should be included as a separate item, adding that water produced during the current wet season is underperforming especially in Tobago.

He said that the wet season contributes eighty percent of the country’s water resources and the authorities need to begin thinking about water conservation measures within the first three months of the rainy season if there is not sufficient rainfall.

He said that a significant amount of water is used in the energy sector and the policy needs to treat this sector separately from the industrial and commercial category in the policy.

Another contributor, John Felix, said he lived in the Kalahari Desert for seven years and his water supply was cut only once and that was because he paid his water bill in the wrong place – in a village rather than in the city. By contrast he said that in 1979/80 he built a house at Cleaver Woods in Arima but eventually had to leave it because he could not get a water supply. He said the house is currently being rented but he still has the same problem and all his tenants have left because of the lack of water.