WASA:

Chief Fire Officer Lennox Alfred last Friday denied a claim by a manager at the Water and Sewerage Authority, (WASA), that only a quarter of the hydrants can withstand the pressure to fight fires in Port-of-Spain.

Alfred said as far as he is aware, it was the water lines installed by WASA which are unable to hold high water pressure.

He said that most of the WASA water lines are old, corroded and can burst when a large volume of water is pumped through the lines to fight fires.

Alfred was responding to statements made by Wayne Joseph, WASA’s manager of operations at Crowne Plaza last Wednesday.

Joseph was invited by the Downtown Owners and Mer-chants Association (DOMA) to address concerns about the way fires are being handled in Port-of-Spain.

A WASA map of its hydrants in the city indicated that no hydrant exists along the length of Charlotte Street or Henry Street.

Alfred, in an interview, said, “WASA has to change all the lines in Port-of-Spain because they cannot provide enough water to fight fires.

“Anytime they put pressure on lines, they may have to change those lines because the pressure will burst the lines,” Alfred added.

Alfred noted that using water from the sea to fight fires has proven to be more effective than using water from WASA’s lines.

He revealed that the fire services are now using a new source of water from a spring located under the National Library in Port-of-Spain.

Alfred said that fire fighters have already had several fire drills using the spring water and it seems to be far more effective than using water from the hydrants or even the sea.

He added that more than 200 hydrants need to be replaced in Port-of-Spain, noting that 62 hydrants were recently replaced.

“Right now, we are waiting on hydrants to arrive in the country and the old ones will be replaced,” Alfred assured.

WASA has already indicated that $100 million is required to fix deficient water mains and hydrants, and to also install additional mains and hydrants in the city.

Half of the fresh water hydrants in Port-of-Spain, he said, are non functional or inaccessible while 25 percent of hydrants could only withstand a weak pressure of five to 19 pounds per square inch, which, he added, are inadequate to fill fire fighters’ hoses but is adequate enough to fill up the tank of a fire-engine. Only 67 fire hydrants in the city are working, he said.