Land belongs to authority

The 23-acre parcel of land contains 35 artesian wells and was brought into operation in 1922, and WASA is now seeking to bring them back into active production.

General manager, corporate communications at WASA, Ellen Lewis, made the comment yesterday, noting that the current drive was being undertaken in an effort to improve the water supply to communities in the Port-of-Spain and Diego Martin areas.

The authority was responding to Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley’s claims on Friday that WASA was “grabbing” the land which belonged to the Port-of-Spain City Corporation, which, he said, was earmarked for the Diego Martin Regional Administrative Complex and a secondary school. Rowley raised the issue during a PNM news conference.

In a release yesterday, however, Lewis said activity at the field was temporarily discontinued in 1992 due to the presence of salt water in the aquifer. She stated that the authority sought to reactivate the field in 2010, and the Water Resources Agency was currently conducting ground water monitoring to identify salt and freshwater interface and aquifer water levels.

The corporation, she admitted, is currently challenging the authority’s legal right of ownership and the two parties had met on two occasions to resolve the matter. However, Lewis said on September 15, the corporation removed public notice signs WASA had erected on the site.

The signs were put up after a meeting between the two parties at the Ministry of Local Government, where it was agreed that the signs would be placed to identify the location of the 35 wells. It was also understood that the issue of ownership would be addressed through the relevant ministries.

Lewis said the authority proposed to return the well field to productive use while maintaining the ground water resource. She added that this was the sole responsibility of the authority under the WASA Act of 1965.

Since earlier this year, because of the degradation and deterioration of water supply sources and transmission and distribution systems over the years, WASA has begun a campaign to protect and safeguard the sources of supply. She noted that over 200 legal notices were issued to persons who were found squatting or legally occupying property belonging to the authority, and who posed a threat to the water supply systems.