A planned ten-day shutdown of Desalcott’s Point Lisas Desalination Plant is causing anxiety among businesses in south Trinidad and the 40,000 households estimated to be affected, despite assurances by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) that contingency measures are in place.
After WASA yesterday announced its revised water schedule for the shutdown period, November 13-23, several business associations were fearing major setbacks given past experiences of such shutdowns.
During a joint media conference yesterday, WASA’s director of operations Steve Joseph said the dry rainy season had depleted the authority’s average water stock by at least 30 per cent.
With a now daily 40 million gallons deficit, WASA’s senior manager, corporate communications, Daniel Plenty, said that would affect its delivery to customers.
Plenty said that despite the recent rainfall in T&T, it was nowhere close to the amount required to restore its reserves.
Desalcott’s operations manager, Steve Thompson, explained that the annual maintenance shutdown was supposed to have been done in July but through an agreement with WASA it was rescheduled to this month.
He said the shutdown would begin on November 13, resulting in a ten per cent decrease in output and a cease operation by November 16.
“We’re going to try our hardest to come back up quicker than that but we have already planned the work as far as possible to be carried out with many activities at the same time. This is to minimise the shutdown duration.
“The shutdown was originally planned for July but the rainy season hasn’t been as intense as normal and in agreement with WASA we have put back the shutdown to November, which is normally the heights of the rainy season. The plants need to be fully prepared for the upcoming dry season,” Thompson added Among the contingencies being used, Joseph said, were production at the Caroni Water Treatment Plant and Navet Waterworks being increased to full capacity, while reservoirs at Marryat Street, Chacon Street and Mount Hope will be filled. The Point Fortin Desalination Plant will also be used to stem the shortfall in affected areas.
He added: “What it means is that the level of service to customers currently served off these plants will also be affected. In looking at the whole shutdown, we estimate that just about 40,000 households will be impacted by the shutdown, meaning that they would receive a reduced level of service for this period.
“Out of 242 million gallons we produce daily, we are currently operating at 88 per cent capacity, which is still fairly good. The whole country is not impacted by the dry season just yet, there are just certain areas where we have made cutbacks on our facilities, Caroni being the largest.
“Once we experience that reduction, through a process of redistribution, areas that get water seven days a week will be reduced. Some would