Mayaro residents under pressure for water

With little or no water in their taps for weeks, Mayaro residents are appealing for relief from the authorities.

They complained yesterday that they have been experiencing water woes since the Water and Sewerage Authority’s (WASA) area supervisor was transferred about a month ago.

When Guardian Media visited the Church Street community, 83-year-old Charles Hamilton was hanging clothes in the yard. The elderly man was fortunate to get a truck-borne supply of water.

However, he complained, “When it (water) do come it coming with low pressure. Sometimes two weeks and no water. Whatever tank you have it not going in the tank to full it.”

Due to the “real hot weather,” he said he had no choice but to wash clothes often as he was sweating more than usual.

“I don’t know how long this problem is going to last but we will like if we could get water more regularly because we does be in difficulty,” he said.

Mother of three Stephanie Modeste and her husband Devlyn Morris said their children had been missing school because they did not have water to wash their uniforms. One of the children is writing the Secondary Entrance Assessment Examination next year. For the past four weeks, their taps have been dry.

“This morning I have to tote clothes by a neighbour to wash, days my children haven’t been going to school,” lamented Modeste.

To cope, she said neighbours have been assisting one another.

“Water is a big issue in the whole village,” she lamented, adding, “If a neighbour gets water, they spread the word, who then run across to go by that neighbour to wash. I find that is real nonsense.”

Her husband said they were also collecting rainwater in tanks and containers.

“God bless we with a little bit of water, that’s how we bathe and wash clothes and that’s how we get to actually cook for one day. This morning…is either I wash the wares or bathe. That’s how bad things in the back here is,” he complained.

He said he contacted WASA via WhatsApp and email and got a response but still got no relief. Despite the lack of water, he said, he was still expected to pay his WASA bill.

Another elderly resident said she had 50 water bottles which she was using to “do everything.” She has had no water in her kitchen or bathroom taps for roughly a month. From a daily supply, she said, it was reduced to three days, and now once every three weeks “only for a few minutes.”

“When it do come it coming dirty, it coming muddy, it coming oily, it coming all kind of how before you could get two bottles of clean water,” she lamented.

Cocal/Mafeking councillor Renelle Kissoon said communities in her area, including Mafeking, Ortoire and Bristol, have ongoing water challenges. She explained that in the dry season, residents were put on a nine-day rotation and now in the rainy season, they are on a ten to 12-day rotation.

Adding that residents were extremely frustrated, she said from her communication with WASA, it does not seem there are immediate plans for relief.

Meanwhile, Mayaro MP Rushton Paray said his constituency has had water woes for the past nine years.

“There is a massive shortfall in water production for this area. This, combined with aged infrastructure and day-to-day operational issues, the residents continue to suffer from an unreliable schedule and supply.”

While there have been some promises of mid and long-term fixes, some of which have started, he said his issue is the short-term provision of water.

He said he has been lobbying for an enhanced trucking service to augment the shortage, but it had fallen on deaf ears.

In response to the complaints yesterday, WASA acknowledged that there had been several disruptions and system pressure issues affecting the supply in that community recently.

The authority assured it was working to normalise the supply to the area.

However, in the interim, WASA said, it has been arranging a truck borne service to affected customers.

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