Desal plants, water conservation needed

Published: 2 Feb 2010

Hot, hot, and even hotter is what this year’s dry season is going to be. Dry, drier and eventually no water in our taps for days is what’s ahead. Many of us could have predicted this scenario months ago. We saw the fiery protests for water on numerous occasions last year and in previous years. And all of this is happening alongside the new initiative from WASA to preserve water.

logoWASA is saying brush your teeth with one glass of water and take a bath with one bucket of water. Really, how can they burden the citizens with this when they clearly deserve more. Are we animals where we are rationed one bowl of water a day? This is the never-ending cycle in the fight by citizens for this basic need—water. Many of us say T&T is surrounded by water and every time it rains it floods, yet people cannot get water. The rubber stamp reason that is almost always used is low rainfall. Yes, low rainfall will have an adverse effect on the water supply but look at Kuwait. It is in the desert with little or no rainfall throughout the year, yet it has an adequate supply of water, all year round. The solution is desalination plants located in key areas of the country to serve the population.

Minister of Public Utilities Mustapha Abdul-Hamid is now talking about four small desalination plants. This should have been done years ago when the first desalination plant was built in Point Lisas and it was proven to reduce the burden on the Navet and Caroni Reservoirs. Water conservation should be approached the way T&TEC brought about electricity conservation in households. With the new electricity meter, customers know they had to pay for what they use—no more bills by estimate; rather updated, accurate billing. This had a ripple effect whereby lights are turned off early, there’s less use of micro-wave ovens and dryers, the TV is not left on, and appliances are unplugged after use.

In the same way, WASA’s metering project has to reach every customer, or at least a high percentage of consumers, to effect proper water a conservation. Use it and you have to pay for it. I hope the new incoming CEO of WASA will take a proactive approach in solving the country’s water woes, rather than a reactive one. Consumers are tired of ministers trying to hoodwink them.

Joseph Bridglal
Via e-mail

Source: http://guardian.co.tt/commentary/letters/2010/02/02/desal-plants-water-conservation-needed