By Newsday Reporters Wednesday, April 18 2007

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Water for sale: A woman buys a bottle of water from a vendor on High Street, San Fernando yesterday. Water supplies have been running low in South and...

Tobago taps have begun to run dry, even as WASA is promising that water will flow once more to South and Central Trinidad.

WASA chief executive officer Errol Grimes yesterday said the desalination plant in Pt Lisas resumed operations yesterday and water will be supplied to 15 communities in Trinidad, although they may have to wait another three days for the levels to return to normal.

In a statement, Grimes said repair works on electrical and other maintenance problems at the plant were completed on Monday night, and have ended “nagging problems” at the plant which culminated in its complete shutdown on April 13. Desalcott is contracted to supply 24 million gallons of water daily to WASA for distribution to the public.

But while this may be good news for such communities as Cunupia, Carapichaima, San Fernando, South Oropouche, Debe, Penal, La Brea and Fyzabad, Tobago residents are being encouraged to conserve their water supplies which are running low.

Although they have not resorted to bearing placards in protest, residents in several Tobago communities, particularly the western end, said this has not been ruled out.

Most complainants yesterday said they have not had pipe-borne water for at least one week. However, one Plymouth resident said she has not received a supply for as much as three weeks.

“The pipes are dry, it is real drama for water here because I live on a hill and, while the people on the flat are getting water, it just can’t seem to reach up to us,” she explained.

General manager of WASA Tobago Services, Oswyn Edmund, yesterday confirmed the water levels at the majority of the rivers are diminishing with the exception of Richmond.

Edmund told Newsday the wells which were recently drilled have been supplying Tobago with 60 percent of the water supply while the remaining 40 percent is obtained from the rivers.

He said WASA planned to drill another well in Mason Hall to ease the shortage in that area.

Edmund said if the dry season intensifies, the situation can become critical and added that the extra amount of water being used by the public was not helping much.

“This dry season is one of the worst that we have seen, even the cracks in the ground are bigger than usual.”

Edmund said water was currently being distributed on a varied schedule which management was in the process of restructuring to be more accommodating to all areas. He said the new schedule should be available by tomorrow.