00:00The Karani Water Treatment Plant, the largest facility of its kind in the country, currently
00:05operates at 78.95% capacity, a significant drop from its long-term average of 92.9%,
00:13as a consequence of the dry season in 2024, the authority said.
00:17Particularly, the Karani River was impacted heavily due to the low normal rainfall, but
00:22also not only was impacted by low than normal rainfall, but unregulated upstream water abstraction.
00:29And as a direct result, the Karani Treatment Plant was on occasion unable to maintain optimal
00:35production of 75 million impure gallons a day.
00:38In contrast, reservoirs like Hollis, Navit and Hillsborough are operating above their
00:43long-term averages.
00:45However, WASA's CEO, Keith Ray Halliday, has emphasized that no restrictions will be imposed
00:51during this period, but he is instead urging citizens to adopt water conservation as a
00:56way of life.
00:57There are no restrictions in place, and I repeat that, there are currently no restrictions
01:02in place.
01:04The notion and the efforts that we would want to stress would be that of collective conservation
01:10and the careful use of our water resources as key.
01:13While historically the dry season presents challenges, WASA says they are already taking
01:18proactive steps to ensure a consistent supply.
01:21Over the past two years, the authority has completed 200 projects aimed at increasing
01:26water production and improving distribution networks.
01:29Director of Water Management Services, Shaira Ali, detailed several initiatives.
01:34First and foremost, to increase our capacity, and by saying so, what it meant was ramping
01:40up our well development program.
01:43This well development program sought to drill new wells to add additional grown water sources
01:50throughout Trinidad and also Tobago.
01:54We would have added over 26 wells over this period of time with in excess of over 5 million
02:01gallons of water, and recently we have ramped up our activity in the program to start wells
02:09in the deep south area.
02:11So three wells, adding an additional 600,000 gallons of water per day in areas to benefit
02:19such as Icacos, Granville, Palo Seco, and in addition to support this well development
02:26in that area, we would have also introduced eight kilometers of new pipeline.
02:32This new pipeline was of course very instrumental in not only transferring the ground water
02:38to its treatment facility, but also importantly to integrate into the distribution network.
02:44Additionally, WASA is utilizing funding from the Inter-American Development Bank to develop
02:49new treatment plants and rehabilitate existing facilities.
02:53We are very soon to embark on another ceremony here in Trinidad, and that's for the Santa
02:59Cruz water treatment plant.
03:01That water treatment facility is much needed because it serves two purposes, and the director
03:07here for the northwest area will tell you, when that facility is commissioned, it will
03:12not only bring new supply to the community of Santa Cruz, but give us the ability to
03:19redirect or re-assign supply from the Kearney water treatment plant, the facility that we
03:25all know, into other hard hit areas.
03:28In Tobago, WASA's advancing works on the Goldsboro water treatment plant to enhance the island's
03:33water security.
03:35Across the nation, upgrades to booster stations, leak repairs, and pipeline replacements are
03:39being prioritized.
03:41With these measures in place and a hopeful outlook tied to a wetter-than-usual dry season,
03:46the authority remains confident it can navigate the challenges of the 2025 dry season without
03:51restrictions.
03:52Josette Deuninan, TV6 News.
Comments