Biche villagers want water

With empty water buckets in one hand and placards in the other, the villagers staged a noisy protest, as they blocked the roads to demonstrate their frustration over the lack of pipe-borne water to their communities.

Villagers have resorted to using river water or have had to buy bottled water, since they have not received a water supply for the past six months.

They said WASA occasionally sent four water trucks to supply the police sation, a few schools, the post office and a few businesses.

Residents said the supply was not enough because the trucks could not provide them with water after they filled the tanks at the schools and businesses. They said they have had to purchase large bottles of water to use for bathing, drinking, washing and cleaning.

“Our pipes are dry...and these trucks that supply the schools and other places are not enough, because when they are finished, we the residents are left without,” said a villager.

The villagers said their children have had to miss school because their uniforms could not be washed.

“Not every time you could afford to purchase water to wash your children school clothes, so they have to stay home and when they stay home there is no water to drink,” said villager Jean Goonie.

Goonie said her four-month-old baby only recently recovered from a bacterial infection.

“As a housewife with no water to clean the house, I have to watch the dirt accumulate in my home which is painful to see.

And when my baby caught an infection, I can’t even begin to say how I felt. And when I took him to the doctor he informed me that he might have picked up the bacteria at home,” she said.

Councillor Glen Ram said the villagers have been neglected and added that the number of trucks supplying water to the communities need to be increased. Ram said, “It is a shame that we live in a rich country and people cannot get water.”

WASA’s corporate communications manager Yolande Simmons yesterday said WASA has a long term plan to supply water to the villagers and said the number of trucks that supply water was increased.