Residents of Jerningham Junction in Charlieville say it's been months since they've gotten a proper water supply, and they now have to choose between using water to cook, or bathe, and their need to eat is winning. Rynessa Cutting has more.
00:00Well, I don't bed easy. I don't bed easy. Once a week. Once a week. No, I tell you, once a week, I don't bed. You don't have no water.
00:09Mr. Khan, like the other residents of Jeuningham Junction in Charlieville, would love to turn on his shower and take a bath.
00:17But with no running water in months, they are forced to make certain choices.
00:22We had water for three months and more. We had no water. We had reported buying water. The truck didn't come. We had to go and buy water steady. It's over and over and over.
00:32Roughly 15 to 20 families are affected. And we're told the issue dates back at least a decade.
00:39It started with when OASA decided to change a four-inch main that runs along this side of the road.
00:50And they changed over the highway with the line coming from over the highway, under the highway, here and going to Pear Road.
01:00They changed on that side in 2014 when partnership was in power.
01:06And then they changed on Pear Road's side and they skipped us.
01:12And by the time they finished Pear Road, the government changed and they decided not to continue it.
01:20And they left us this short piece of road, less than 300 feet.
01:23They left the old corroded pipe, which diameter is down to about an inch.
01:30Attempts by OASA to address the problem have thus far been unsuccessful.
01:36A couple months back, by me, where I live, in front of me there, OASA came and dig up a hole there.
01:42They put one short line and after from that I got a little water and after from that no water again.
01:48Blank club.
01:51About three months or more.
01:54Well, good news tonight for the Charlieville residents, as Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath is promising relief in two weeks.
02:09I asked the chairman to look at it as an emergency project.
02:14I am advised that this project will be completed within two weeks' time.
02:19The CEO has advised the chairman that it will be completed within two weeks' time to bring about a greater measure of relief.
02:25It requires a change-out of a one-inch main that services both areas, Marchand and Charlieville.
02:31And therefore, I asked the residents in that area to bear with us.
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