By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has fixed 5,000 leaks over the years with 700 more outstanding to be repaired.
WASA’s chairman Ravindra Nanga disclosed this information on Wednesday.
He said, “We have been attacking those leaks aggressively and with the procurement of these mini excavators, these pieces of equipment would go a long way in improving our response time. We have cleared a huge part of the backlog of leaks that we now have. We are very hopeful that by the end of this month, March, we would only be looking at dealing with current leaks.”
The chairman was speaking at the commissioning ceremony for 12 mini excavators as well as the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) Amphibious Response vehicle procured by the Ministry of Public Utilities.
Nanga is also promising that by April, he is confident they will be able to respond to all leak reports within 24 to 48 hours, as a result of the 5,000 outstanding leaks being repaired.
Referring to the excavators that were procured at a cost of $10 million, Nanga said WASA will be implementing an extensive maintenance policy.
He said, “Unlike in the past, this would be taxpayers’ dollars well spent. And as long as this board is in place under the stewardship of this minister, we will ensure that these pieces of equipment, as all the other pieces of equipment that we are about to acquire, would be properly taken care of and redound to the benefit of the members of the public and towards improving our service.”
Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales said with the fixed leaks there was no longer millions of gallons of water being wasted on a daily basis.
He added that both WASA and the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) were not performing financially as they should negatively impacting on the state agencies ability to provide reliability to customers and changes were being made.
Gonzales said, “I feel very confident that over the next 12 to 24 months, once we continue on this trend, once we continue on this trajectory, the people of Trinidad and Tobago will have a sustainable utility services for future generations.”
