Lack of potable water has spawned a million-dollar industry.

One company’s lack of competence has made many wealthy.

In the 60s, 70s (even presently), when WASA gave us hell but no water, no one perished for lack of water.

I remember water being sold at the Red Cross Children’s Carnival in the 60s.

Here is my concern. Bottled water left in a car is a fire hazard.

Light can be refracted through a water bottle and start a fire on a seat. Sunlight magnified by a water bottle can reach 250 degrees.

The sunlight will come through when the bottle is filled with liquid and act as a magnifying glass.

The clear liquid and clear material can develop a focused beam and actually cause a fire.

Take your water bottle with you when leaving the car. Prevention is better than cure.

Or the report will state, “Cause of fire, water.’”

AV RAMPERSAD Princes Town

Lee Young upset third seeded Canadian Chelsea Mukerji 6-1, 6-0 to advance. Aalisha Alexis of TT was defeated 6-0, 6-1 in another quarter-final match by Sarinah Maduro of Curacao. In the boys Under-14 quarterfinals, David Rodriguez outlasted Jace Quashie in an all TT affair 6-0, 6-1.

In round one of the boys singles Under-18 category, Venezuelan Sebastian Pino defeated Danyel Angus of TT 6-3, 6-2. In the girls Under-18 round one, Remika Ohashi of Japan and Nairuti Vyas of India both won over their Caribbean opponents.

Ohashi defeated Barbadian Alesha Alleyne 6-0, 6-2, while Vyas got past Jamaican Valaine Clarke 6-1, 7-5.

The tournament continues today.

Piehmann struck 53 and Mikel Frederick contributed 19 to guide Talparo Youths to 94 runs for three wickets batting first against Gunners. Gunners made a valiant effort to get to the target scoring 86/8, but Talparo Youths prevailed by eight runs. Amit Jaggernath top scored with 36 and Nathan Ramlal contributed 14 for Gunners, while Frederick (2/12) and Dave Ragbir (2/20) both took two wickets for Talparo Youths.

In an Over-40 division contest, Boodansingh’s knock of 53 propelled Anthrax to 122/2. Reynold Ramsaran and Cyrus Balroop pitched in with 26 and 16 respectively.

In reply, Damian Peters grabbed 4/8 to limit H&G Xmen to 87/7 to hand Anthrax a 35- run win. Stephen Bhulawan (31), Trevor Rajkumar (19) and Kirk Alfred (13) were the top batsmen for Xmen.

Summarised Scores – D MANGO BOYS 50/7 (Raphick Mohammed 10; Dale Pran 2/8) vs MOO NDOGS 51/3 (Ramesh Narine 20). Moondogs won by seven wickets.

ACONO YOUTHS 109/8 (David Owen 34, Gregory Quevedo 30, Dillon Mahadeo 14; Raj Persad 2/17) vs RELOAD 101/6 (Sunil Boodansingh 36, Michael Harry 17). Acono Youths won by eight runs.

TALPARO YOUTHS 94/3 (Rishi Piehmann 53, Mikel Frederick 19) vs GUNNERS 86/8 (Amit Jaggernath 36, Nathan Ramlal 14; Dave Ragbir 2/20, M Frederick 2/12). Talparo Youths won by eight runs.

HARD HITT ERS 62/8 (Danny Seenath 12; Shannon Harrydass 3/11, Bobby Seecharan 2/10) vs LANCE’S BAR 62/8 (Rajin Maharaj 20, Franky Ragoonath 10).

Lance’s Bar won by super over.

YOUNG GUNS 60/7 (Ajay Ramsingh 12; Kishore Seeboo 11; Giovanni Sylvester 3/10) vs FOR AMEUZMENT ONLY 62/3 (Arie Khan 23). For Ameuzment Only won by seven wickets.

D BOSS TEAM 93/8 (Shane Sookdeo 27, Richard Ali 17, Anthony Aziz 12) vs YOUNG GUNS 61/8. D Boss Team won by 32 runs.

IDK 49/9 (Berthram Percival 14) vs FIVE RIVERS 51/6 (Teron Jadoo 19). Five Rivers won by four wickets.

CULTURE 101/3 (Keen Hernandez 25, Michael Morang 19, Ronald Gaitan 19) vs GABBA YOUTHS 54 (Abraham Thomas 22, Gerald Skeete 11). Culture won by 47 runs.

Over-40 Division – ANTHRAX 122/2 (Sunil Boodansingh 53, Reynold Ramsaran 26, Cyrus Balroop 16) vs H&G XMEN 87/7 (Stephen Bhulawan 31, Trevor Rajkumar 19, Kirk Alfred 13; Damian Peters 4/8). Anthrax won by 35 runs.

Justice Margaret Mohammed granted the injunction to the Public Service Association (PSA) yesterday in a decision which will ultimately restrain permanent secretaries in five ministries from taking steps to implement a decision announced by Public Administration Minister Maxie Cuffie to give permanent secretaries in ministries and the Office of the Prime Minister the power to hire and recruit certain classes of public officers.

At yesterday’s sitting, held during the High Court vacation, Mohammed heard from the PSA’s lawyers, Senior Counsel Avory Sinanan, Travers Sinanan, Kelvin Ramkissoon and Leon Kalicharan, and attorney Antoinette Alleyne who appeared for the State.

According to the PSA’s application, in which it is seeking to have the court review the decision of the permanent secretary of the ministry to fill at least eight vacancies in that ministry, to do so will be contrary to law and the regulations which govern the hiring process in the Public Service.

The positions which the permanent secretary will not be able to fill for now are chemical engineer I/II, geophysicist I/II geologist /II petroleum engineer I/II, petroleum chemist, petroleum inspector, geologist assistant and petroleum engineering assistant.

In its court action, the PSA intends to argue that to advertise the vacancies without consultation with the recognised majority union for public servants is in breach of the PSA’s legitimate expectation to be consulted, having regard to the provisions of Section 14(1)(c) of the Civil Service Act and a 1973 memorandum issued by the chief personnel officer to all permanent secretaries and heads of departments in the public service, which establish a joint consultative committee to provide for communication and consultation between management and staff in the public service.

The PSA, which represents over 80,000 public servants, contends it was the duty of the chief personnel officer to establish procedures of consultation and negotiation between the personnel department and the recognised union.

The union acknowledged while the Public Service Commission (PSC) can delegate certain functions to permit permanent secretaries to give notice of vacancies, advertise and receive applications to fill a vacancy, there must be consultation with the recognised union.

According to the PSA’s application for judicial review, there has been no consultation to date to advertise vacancies in the energy ministry.

The PSA stressed that the PSC was the only constitutional body charged with responsibility for recruitment and appointment of public servants and any delegation of statutory power cannot surrender or arrogate the responsibility to a public officer without the necessary checks and balances in place.

According to the union, the raison d’etre of the PSC was to insulate the public service from political interference.

In its application for the injunction, the PSA said it was necessary because of the possibility of manipulation of the process. It also contended that the public interest will be best served by staying the arrangements put in place, since there has been no short list of prospective candidates, nor have interviews for the advertised positions been conducted, so no inconvenience will be

He spoke with Newsday at the launch of the Heavy-T Inspection Bay at the Caroni office yesterday.

“The Transport Division has been moving apace this year to upgrade services, to do business processing, re-engineering, to get a lot of the things out faster. Most of them have been tested here at Caroni and it’s working well,” Richards said.

“The average processing time for a normal service here at Caroni is basically about half-hour. So you could come in here and get your driver’s permit and certified copies of these things. You could do most services, including inspection, here now.

“You could apply for your licence.

When you came in you’d probably have seen some people across there doing their driving test.

We have started a new electronic registration extract, so we no longer give you the extract in handwriting. Your certified copy and your information is on the computer.

Once your vehicle is ready, you could apply for a certified copy in any part of the country and get it readily.

“The time for maxi-taxi and school bus services has been reduced from four months to one week. You get a phone call telling you that your process is ready and that you could come in and finish your business, and do your transfers for your vehicle here.” He quipped, “People come in here and might chide us because they don’t even have time to fraternise with other members of the public. They just get called in and they move out.

“I’m asking people to come and test the Caroni experience. They say our customer service is one of the best in the country.”

Those calling for their removal, barring the politics of trying to further embarrass President Donald Trump for his stance on the recent violence, are doing so on the basis of their perception of the Confederate cause in the American Civil War as an endorsement of slavery.

Those objecting to the removal of statues, such as that of Robert E Lee, et al, are essentially racist, including the President. But does it necessarily imply sympathy for the Confederate cause which undoubtedly favoured the retention of slavery in the American south? It may be seen as such considering how sensitive the subject is, but can it also be a call to avoid destroying important mementos of total American history, whether good, bad or ugly? One recalls the horror of the destruction of the ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan by the Islamic State because of religious ideology.

The question to ask is whether a people’s history should not be retained in all its aspects, more so as the First Amendment of the American Constitution allows for freedom of speech, freedom of thought with the understanding that distasteful as such freedom of thought and expression may seem to others with opposing views, that tolerance is the expected reaction? Again, would the elimination of statues which bring back extremely unpleasant memories somehow eliminate those memories? It may help to mitigate the effects, but can that action eliminate the deep-rooted negative psychology of slavery as Frantz Fanon has described in Black Skin White Masks? Won’t it be more rational and productive, difficult as this may seem, just to try to come to terms with this horrendous experience, learn from it, and be the better for it? For if this precedent is set of removing the symbols which remind us of an atrocious past, where does that leave the case of the American Indian whose glorious culture and way of life would have been virtually decimated by pioneers who are recorded as heroes in the annals of American history? The American Indians continue to experience discrimination as is inevitable with subcultures in mainstream culture, but their approach is to try and assimilate as far as is possible, taking the good with the bad.

What of the “hero” Columbus who discovered the New World but paved the way for Pizarro and Cortez and their decimation of the First Peoples and the Incas and the Aztecs? Yet life goes on in Peru and Mexico, despite the horrors of conquest.

Tucker Carlson in Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News made a telling point recently that the history of the world is a history of conquest and enslavement, beginning with Genghis Khan in Asia and continuing with Sulieman and the Ottoman Empire, and further with the Roman Empire and Hitler’s Germany, the Spanish Empire in the New World, not forgetting the British Empire in the New World and in India.

But what Tucker suggests is that you can’t eliminate the march of history even with its atrocities.

There is no other choice but to accept its inevitability and grow from it.

DR ERROL BENJAMIN docbenj742@outlook.com

There are two routes being considered — from Arima to Toco and from Sangre Grande to Toco.

Nidco said that currently it takes 90 minutes from Arima to Toco. From a layman’s point of view, is this a reasonable or unreasonable time? If the new road reduces the duration to 48 minutes in one of its options and to 35.3 minutes in the other, is spending between $2 billion and $5 billion really necessary at this point in time of economic decline for these minute savings? The figures get even more incredulous when we work out the cost the road per minute that will be saved.

If we use the lowest fee of $2 billion and divide it by the 42 minutes it will save, we get a whopping cost of $47.6 million per minute.

If we use the highest fee of $5 billion, it works out to be $119 million a minute.

If we use the second option of the new road taking 35 minutes instead of 90 minutes, and using the lowest fee of $2 billion, it works out to be $36.4 million a minute. And, for the highest fee of $5 billion, it will be $90.9 million a minute.

Let us be real here. On top of the new road, we will then have to build the new ferry terminal in Toco. That might be another set of billions of dollars. Then, new ferries from Toco to Tobago.

And additional staff to run the port and ferries.

Do we really need that type of infrastructural investment? Can we get more returns if we were to spend that money in other types of infrastructural development and/or otherwise? We definitely need to do something about the local travel between our two main islands. Is this proposed road the solution? Can more frequent and reliable ferry services from Port of Spain be more effective? What if we were to use the one in San Fernando (already exists)? What about if we were to add new ones in Manzanilla and Mayaro to Tobago, especially as decent road works already exist? Further, if we are to go through with the road to Toco, what will be the new duration of the journey from Toco to Tobago? How much shorter will it be than from Port of Spain and the other areas identified earlier? We really need a lot of public consultation on this project before we go ahead.

It will cost us the taxpayers a mint to repay.

IAN RAMDHANIE via email

For some they might say, “I agree”, a cold beverage be it fruit juice with no added sugar, sugary drinks, alcoholic beverages, milkshakes, water in plain or flavoured form or even buying a cup our local snow-cone, are great choices. Whereas, others could argue, “you are right”, but is difficult at times to drink water. Be that as it may, keep in mind that water is the best refreshing drink.

Today’s article will focus on the importance of water in the diet. The focus will be on the healthy population; for example, those diagnosed with kidney disease, congestive heart failure, etc are at times prescribed restricted fluids with their meals by the medical doctor, you are encouraged to remain compliant with the physician’s advice.

Essential nutrient Water is essential in the diet; it is a nutrient, just as important as carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. The body needs water daily, irrespective of the weather conditions.

Water loss normally occurs through sweat, urine, expired air from the lungs, metabolic processes in the body, and removal waste. You should note that water loss must be replaced to maintain fluid balance in the body. In some cases, water and electrolytes are lost through diarrhoea; when this occurs replacing the water and electrolytes are critical in maintaining health.

Mahan and Escott-Stump (2008) documented that water forms the largest component of the body. You should note that the total body weight, for example at birth, water accounts for 75 to 85 per cent, while for the lean adult accounting for 60 to 70 per cent, and obese persons 45 to 55 per cent. Generally, water has the critical role of aiding physical and chemical constancy of intracellular and extracellular fluids, maintaining body temperature, assisting with the physiological process of digestion, absorption, and excretion, and preventing dehydration.

From this you may wish to conclude that water must be added to the diet. It can be taken into the body as part of the food and beverages that you consumed. A good practical approach to consider is to drink water between meals throughout the day in plain or flavoured forms by including fresh fruit pieces, lemon or lime juice. Veggie pieces such as cucumber slices, carrot slices or adding a very small piece of mauby bark or cinnamon stick and so on. In addition, you can also add to your meal plan fruit juice, milkshakes, slices of fresh fruit (watermelon, pineapple), tossed salads, and soups.

Note: if water cannot be taken orally or by a feeding tube, it may be administered intravenously by the medical doctor in the form of saline solutions.

Nutritional content: Plain water contains zero calories; flavoured water will add to the caloric content. Please take a few minutes to read the food label. You are encouraged to drink water, and omit and/ or limit sugary beverages, and energy drinks which contain caffeine, sugar, and add a lot of extra calories to the diet (Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2017).

What happens when you don’t drink enough water? The recommendation is six to eight glasses of water per day. If you are not drinking enough water to replace body fluids loss, the possibility is that you can become dehydrated.

Dehydration can be described as excessive loss of body water.

The adverse effects of dehydration include that of: strong thirst, vague discomfort, loss of appetite, decreased blood volume which may affect normal circulation, impaired physical performance, increased effort for physical work, nausea, difficulty in concentrating, failure to regulate body temperature, dizziness, laboured breathing with exercise, increased in weakness, muscle spasms, delirium, and failing kidney function.

Water is adequate for hydration.

You are encouraged to hydrate before work, as it can make it easier to keep hydrated during the day; if dehydrated prior to starting work, it makes it difficult to catch-up with the body’s need for water during the day.

Also, maintain hydration by drinking water during the day, work performance can be affected when dehydrated.

If you work outdoors such as in farming, construction or at quarries, it is suggested to drink one cup water every 15 to 20 minutes; drink at shorter intervals which may be more effective than drinking larger amounts infrequently. Do not drink more than 48 fluid ounces of water per hour.

Note: overconsumption of water and other beverages can probably increase your potential risk for medical conditions.

In addition, keep hydrated after work, as you may need to continue to replace fluid loss..

Dr Claudette Mitchell, PhD, RD is an Assistant Professor, University of the Southern Caribbean, School of Science, Technology, and Allied Health

The woman was then gangraped by the intruders.

Police said the victims were at their home at about 10 pm when two men, one armed with a gun, entered the couple’s home and announced a hold-up.

The husband was then tied up and his wife was taken to a room where the men sexually assaulted her.

After the bandits fled, the victims made a report to the Mayaro police and the crime scene was processed.

The woman was taken to a district medical officer where she was treated.

The Sounders had planned to release Jones for the qualifiers next week, after the Portland game, but he instead flew back to his native Trinidad on Monday and informed a coach via text message afterward.

Sounders general manager Garth Lagerwey yesterday confirmed that: “Joevin has left the team for personal reasons, and he’ll be joining the national team down in Trinidad.” But Lagerwey declined further comment, including whether Jones had authorisation to leave or if he would be disciplined for departing early.

It is possible that Jones may play for Trinidad and Tobago in a friendly international against Jamaica tomorrow. The Sounders could block him from doing so, but that’s unlikely given his already tenuous situation with them — having signed a deal to play with a German Second Division side next season.

A player walking out on his team would be a huge deal in other major North American professional sports, but it’s not uncommon in international soccer. In the case of Jones, 25, who declined long-term contract offers from the Sounders before signing to play with SV Darmstadt starting next January, this could be an attempt to force an early release from his contract.

The international transfer window closes September 1, and Jones would be able to play for the German side several months early if the Sounders release him. But that seems unlikely, given the talent level Jones brings to a first-place Sounders side hoping to make a run at a second consecutive MLS Cup title. Jones is considered one of the top left backs in Major League Soccer, and his presence on the team would almost certainly improve the Sounders’ odds of repeating as champions more so than releasing him would.

Though Nouhou has greatly impressed the team during his limited playing time, he remains an untested commodity at playoff time compared with the more-seasoned Jones.

Another factor the team undoubtedly will weigh is how Jones bolting before a pair of huge Western Conference games will play in his own dressing room. Players apparently were informed yesterday about the early departure before taking to the field for practice in Tukwila.

It’s also possible Jones might not return to the Sounders, but that seems doubtful given he’d cease earning his relatively low, sub-sixfigure MLS salary and be sidelined from action for several months.