A severe water crisis is continuing to cripple business and tourism operations in Tobago, despite efforts by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to regulate limited water supplies.
As the crisis intensifies because of limited rainfall, calls are now being made for the Government to improve ground water infrastructure in Tobago.
President of the Tobago Hotel & Tourism Association, Chris James said several years ago wells were drilled in Tobago to supplement the existing reserves.
“We were told that we did not even need the reservoir because we had enough ground water. A company called Earth Water did bore holes but we are not sure if the wells were connected to proper infrastructure,” James said. He said more water trucks were needed to distribute water.
“This is a busy time here and many hotels—I do not want to name them—have been cancelling reservations. For the future we need we need to improve the water distribution infrastructure, drill more wells or connect the wells that are there. They keep promising 24/7 water but we are not getting this in Tobago,” James said.
At Doris Guest House, manager Renuka Khadaroo said she was waiting impatiently to get a truck- borne supply of water.
“Right now we have just six guests in our apartments. We have stopped making reservations because of the water crisis. People ask if we have water and once they hear we don’t, they immediately cancel bookings,” Khadaroo said. At Rainbow Resort in Crown Point, owner Ryan Rattan said the water shortage was affecting operations.
He said 50 per cent of reservations had cancelled and it was time for proper infrastructure to be put in place to deal with water problems.
“Right now we are relying on our underground tanks. They are properly sealed. While we understand this was caused by a lack of rainfall, we believe there are fresh water springs which could be used to ease the problems,” Rattan said.
“Right next door there is a spring and they haven’t tapped into it. We need to do an entire assessment of spring reserves. We need water to operate. Right now we usually get a lot of Trinis coming here. The water in the pool is also low and we cannot use WASA water to fill it up,” Rattan said.
Several popular hotels including Magdalena Grand Beach Resort said they were monitoring the situation.
A spokesperson from Caroline Apartments said they had multiple tanks and so had no problems with water. An official of Calvary Road Deliverance Tabernacle said the worst hit areas were Bon Accord, Canaan and Crown Point.
Contacted yesterday, Water Resources Minister Ganga Singh said he would investigate the concerns. Manager of Corporate Communications at WASA Daniel Plenty said truck-borne water was being supplied to the affected areas.
Plenty said limited rainfall had affected water production at several water treatment facilities.
Statistics from the Meteorological Office show that rainfall in Tobago from July 1 to 20 was 34.2mm, which is 18 per cent of the long term average for the period; while in June, approximately half of normal rainfall was recorded.
“This situation continues to significantly impact production at some of the major water treatment facilities on the island including Hillsborough and Courland, which combined are currently generating approximately 45 per cent of normal production. Other water treatment facilities also affected are King’s Bay, Highlands Road, Hillsborough West and Charlotteville,” Plenty said.
In order to properly manage the available water resources, he said, WASA had continued its Dry Season Water Management Plan for Tobago, which includes:
Implementation of new or adjusted schedules
Increased water trucking to all affected areas and key stakeholders such as hotels
Supplementing surface water sources with ground water sources
Closer interaction with affected communities through the Customer Response Unit and Technical Officers
As such water schedules have been implemented for areas including Crown Point, Canaan, Buccoo, Black Rock, Prospect and Shirvan Road.