This country’s reservoir levels are still nowhere close to its Long Term Average capacity.
This was revealed during a press conference this morning by Acting CEO of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Kelvin Romain.
He said while the expectation is for levels to increase with the rainfall being heavy at times–, it hasn’t been sufficient to sustain the reservoirs where the authority wants it to be.
Romain said: “To put it to perspective, we are about 50 per cent or thereabout below our Long Term Average in at least two of our reservoirs and we’re experiencing lower than normal river levels at the Caroni River.”
He said the Caroni River is used to supply one of the authority’s largest water treatment plant–approximately 30 per cent of the nation’s supply.
He explained that for this same period last year, the DESALCOTT plant in Point Lisas had to be shut down for maintenance however given the current circumstances, the move has been rescheduled.
Director of Operations at the authority Shaira Ali explained that given the predicted rainfall estimated for this time of year, WASA was hoping to recover from the harsh dry season, however this was not so as the drier than usual conditions in August/September only compounded an already bad situation.
She said with the exception of the Hillsborough Reservoir in Tobago, intermittent rainfall and localised showers were experienced at all other impounding reservoirs in Trinidad “which saw the insufficient replenishment at the reservoirs.”
Ali said as such robust water management strategies are needed for implementation to withstand the challenges posed by the evolving climate.
She said however that WASA intends to implement several plans to deal with the situation and prepare for the 2025 dry season.
“Some of these development works include future climate resilience initiatives which focus on enhancing facility treatment capabilities to ensure operations during periods of heavy rainfall, flooding and high turbidity experience. Areas such as Caura, refurbishment of the Maura intake, refurbishment of the North Coast facilities including Tyrico, Blanchicheusse and La Fillette are being proposed for commencement in 2025.”
In addition, Ali said that exploration of innovation solutions and new source developments including groundwater wells, new water sources and desalination plants are “being pursued aggressively to diversify the island’s water resources.”
As a result of the situation, WASA’s communication manager, Daniel Plenty has issued a call for members of the public to conserve their water supply.
He said: “From WASA’s end we are doing our part in relation to the water supply management plans that the authority has undertaken from the dry season and continue up to now. But for our customers and members of the public, we also need to have everyone be on board as well in relation to how we utilise water and get ready to employ efficient water use practices at home, school, our businesses, wherever we may be utilising water, we need to conserve our water use as much as possible.”