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alexk
Guest
Public Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte says a holistic, multi-pronged, approach is required to successfully tackle the problems facing the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA).
He was speaking at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the utility held recently at the Ministry’s head office in St Clair.
To bring short-term relief, the Minister discussed with the members of the Board a plan, which if properly executed could reduce the demand and supply imbalance over a two-year period. This plan he says will require an investment of approximately $2.4 m.
According to a release from the Public Utilities Ministry, the Minister identified a number of areas of WASA that needed critical attention.
These, he said, include but are not limited to: increased water production and storage; rectifying the transmission issues by repairing aged infrastructure in order to reduce the levels of non-revenue water; the collection of outstanding receivables; and metering and water conservation awareness.
Le Hunte laments, that as a country Trinidad and Tobago is not in a water deficit position, but a significant portion of the water produced is lost through leaks caused by ageing infrastructure and illegal connections.
The Minister noted that fixing the ageing infrastructure will require significant investment, and hinted it may even mean having some level of private sector involvement.
He urged the Board to explore all avenues to increase production and to adopt a more aggressive approach aimed at reducing the number of leaks in WASA’s distribution system.
Le Hunte also cited some other areas of improvement that the Board needs to addressed immediately. One of these is the utility’s communication with its customers which he described as unsatisfactory and totally unacceptable.