La Brea village living off rain water

FOR over a month, residents of Sobo Village in La Brea, South Trinidad, have been without a regular water supply, and some of them literally are surviving off water collected in drums when the rain falls. Other villagers, who have the means, purchase water from water-trucks. In spite of this situation,  bills from the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) continue to flow unabated to the residents.

When Newsday visited the area yesterday, supermarket proprietor Michael “Doray” Mitchell said since his supermarket opened in late November, he was forced to purchase a supply of water every three weeks. He said countless appeals have been made to WASA by “almost every villager,” but to no avail. He added that residents have now become accustomed to dry taps. Mitchell also pointed out that the village’s sole communal watertank was also empty, saying, “sometimes you can see about 90 people waiting for water,” at the tank. Efforts to contact WASA officials yesterday for comment proved futile, but a news release from WASA stated that residents in both Central and Southern areas would experience a decrease in their water supply due to maintenance work at the desalination facility in Point Lisas. According to the statement, the water scheduling would take place from Monday July 26 to Saturday July 31.