There has been no water in the Crown Point and Bon Accord areas in Tobago, where most of the hotels are located, for some days now and hoteliers have entered into panic mode.
The owner of a 40-room establishment, who asked that his identity and the name of his business be withheld for fear of cancellations and refunds, said all his 40 tanks are empty.
He said he has been dealing with angry guests, some of whom had to go and bathe in another building.
His swimming pool cannot be used because there is no water to maintain it, he said.
“I have a 40-room hotel and 11 rooms are occupied. I am expecting an additional 15 rooms tomorrow but it has been very difficult coping with the lack of water.
“One set of guests were leaving and because we had no water they had to go and bathe in another building before they went to the port.”
The source said he has 40 tanks for the 40 studio-type apartments at his establishment and all are empty. He said his guests ran out of water for two to three hours twice for this week.
There are about 12 hotels the same size as his, another 12 larger hotels and about 20 small guesthouses in the area and most are being affected in a similar way, he said.
The T&T Guardian spoke to a staff member at a large hotel and she confirmed they had a water problem. “We just had to deal with some angry Trinidadian guests.”
A secretary at another large hotel initially said they, too, were having problems. But after she had a private conversation with a senior member of staff she changed her response. “The water shortage is not affecting us in any way,” she said.
The source said truck borne supplies from the Water & Sewerage Authority (WASA) takes about four days to come.
“When we call WASA’s hotline, they say the water would be delivered within a day. When it comes we get about two or three tanks which last a day and a half.”
“An option is to pay the Fire Service $200 for a load of water. And then they put you on a waiting list.”
The source said worried hoteliers met informally on Wednesday and agreed to come out and make some kind of statement.”
Allan Clovis, who operates Kariwak Village Holistic Haven and Restaurant in Crown Point, said his staff have begun to use his “super reserve” supplies he keeps in underground tanks.
He said if they get no water from WASA it would run out in a week’s time.
Clovis said they have begun calling WASA to secure truck borne supplies and are being told they will get water.
He said if they don’t get water within the next three to four days he can rent a truck and go to one of WASA’s stations and fill up his tanks himself.
“They give us permission to do that.”
Clovis said he does not understand what is happening with the water situation in Tobago but added it had to be traced to a management problem.
“There was also a dry spell recently,” he noted.
The source, who spoke to the T&T Guardian, said there has been no communication from WASA about what was happening.
“WASA needs to step forward and say something. Four months ago they issued a statement saying they were commissioning two new wells to service the Bon Accord and Crown Point areas.
“We expected improvement but the situation worsened.”
He recalled that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley himself, during a Cabinet media briefing at the Magdalena Grand Hotel in Tobago in March, highlighted the water problems.
Rowley said, “We discussed and agreed that WASA and the relevant ministries will immediately, as a matter of urgency, examine the potential for a desalination facility in western Tobago to provide a sustained supply of water, so that we will not have this problem of water shortages as we go forward.”
The T&T Guardian contacted WASA’s communications head, Daniel Plenty on Thursday who asked that the questions be emailed to him.
On Friday, he said he promised to get back to us with some information.
Calls to the Tobago’s Hotel and Tourism Association were successful.
The secretary said questions are usually emailed to them.
Deputy Chief Secretary and Secretary of Tourism and Transportation, Tracy Davidson-Celestine had left for the day. The T&T Guardian was told to try Director of Tourism, Frederica Adams but got the same response.
She was not there and leave a message.
There was an answering machine at assistant secretary of Infrastructure and Public Utilities Handel Beckles’ office.