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  • 11 months ago
A High Court has ruled in favor of a businessman whose establishment remained closed for 45 days after a ruptured sewage line spilled sewage on and around his business place. The Court says aged infrastructure is nothing short of a ticking time-bomb and tells WASA to immediately conduct a national audit of its sewage infrastructure.
Transcript
00:00A High Court judge today declared that the Water and Sewage Authority, WASA, was negligent
00:06in failing to adequately maintain and repair a sewer main in front of Matthew Edwards'
00:12business place on the Eastern Main Road, Petit Bougues, San Juan.
00:16The negligence, Edwards says, led to the closure of Shaw Brothers Enterprises for some 45 days
00:23in late 2021 when sewage backed up into the property.
00:28The business consists of merchandising and sale of electronics, books, toys and an ice
00:33cream parlor.
00:36The proprietor says he suffered damage to DVDs, controller cards, computer motherboards,
00:41printers, curtains and shoes.
00:44In 2021, when the incident occurred, the landlord went to WASA's head office.
00:49He was told he would be visited within three working days.
00:53During that time, the court was told sewage continued to flow, the yard became waterlogged
00:58and no one from WASA visited.
01:00It took 42 phone calls and 10 days before an official turned up, saying all he could
01:06do was to file a report and the rest would be up to management.
01:11Almost a month later, laborers visited the scene and poured dirt into a sinkhole formed
01:17by the sewage, but Edwards told the High Court Judge Frank Cipesad this only caused sewage
01:22to run along the main road for several meters and the sewage stench, flow and splashing
01:28intensified.
01:29He said persistent calls to WASA from then to December yielded little, aside from an
01:35explanation that equipment was needed to do the job.
01:38On December 2nd, a repair crew arrived but left without explanation.
01:44And on December 10th, another crew spent about six hours to fix the damaged underground sewer
01:49main.
01:50During his ruling, Justice Frank Cipesad said a statutory authority may be found negligent
01:55if it creates a hazard by failing to act and that action was required in the discharge
02:01of a positive duty of care.
02:03WASA, the court says, has a statutory duty with respect to sewer mains.
02:09It was determined the main in question was made out of concrete and PVC and had a lifespan
02:14of between 50 to 80 years.
02:17It was also indicated given the population size and the number of businesses, the pressure
02:22on the system would be relatively high and as such the lifespan of the main would be
02:28closer to the lower limit.
02:31Justice Cipesad said WASA should, as a matter of urgency, engage in a comprehensive review
02:36of the nation's sewer systems and aged mains should be quickly replaced to avert any impending
02:42health and environmental crises.
02:45Additionally, the judge said WASA's explanation of a lack of resources and facilities do not
02:51negate WASA's duty of care and it is not a complete defence.
02:57Urvashi Tewari, Rupnur Ryan, TV6 News.
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