(Trinidad Express) THE Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) on Tuesday night shut down its Caroni Water Treatment Plant after an oily sheen was seen in the water. However, it was too late to prevent the contaminated supply reaching thousands of customers.
An alert went out shortly after daybreak yesterday, advising customers not to use the water if they detected a kerosene-like smell in their supply. They were also advised to empty all water stored in tanks and clean out the tanks with cleaning agents before refilling.
The authority said that up to late yesterday, there had been no reports of people falling ill from drinking the water.
However, 60 schools were closed and children sent home early, as a precaution.
According to WASA’s senior manager of corporate communications, Daniel Plenty, a substance was spotted around 7.15 p.m. on Tuesday and the operations ceased immediately.
The facility was restarted at 12.45 a.m. after the river was cleared of the oily substance, as well as clean-up and disinfection works on the plant.
Plenty told the Express the sheen was observed by WASA employees working on the plant that is situated on the river bank. Sections of the river form part of the facility. The plant extracts water from the Caroni River, which is then distributed via two major pipelines to north and south regions of Trinidad.
He said the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) was immediately contacted.
Plenty said: “We immediately stopped operations at the plant because what would have been happening there is that water from the river is being drawn into the plant for treatment. At that point, of course, if you have an oily substance in the water, that is also being drawn into the plant.
“After the plant was stopped, we had to engage in clean-up activity in relation of removing any residue of the oily substance from the various places at that plant before restarting.
“The EMA was contacted and they have a full-scale investigation that is being done right now. They are checking for the source of the contamination and they are also making checks along the system of irrigation to the water supply.”
No water supply was cut to homes, businesses or institutions, Plenty said.
He gave the assurance WASA was doing all it could to supply clean and safe water for its customers.
Plenty said: “The authority assures customers that the supply from the plant is safe and meets World Health Organisation standards. However, flushing exercises are currently being carried out in order to eliminate any residue of the substance that may have entered the distribution system.
“The authority apologises for the inconvenience and thanks customers for their patience and understanding.”
Not all areas that receive supply from the plant were impacted, he said.
“We are trying to focus on our flushing exercises, particularly in those areas that we keep getting reports of continued kerosene smell in the water supply,” he said.
He added that the public needed to be aware of environmental protection, especially for the water courses, and any indiscriminate dumping of chemicals or materials could contaminate the water.
“As a population, we need to be aware of that importance of protecting our environment, protecting our water courses, our water sheds so that we can have water supply in an environment that will be able to sustain our way of life in the future,” Plenty said.
Ramona responds
Ramona Ramdial, Minister in the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, said the ministry was keeping in contact with the EMA for feedback.
She said: “The EMA is still in the process of doing their testing of the water and they also still investigating with respect to the source of contamination in the water course. We are supposed to know a bit later on about the testing of the water and the quality of the water and if it is safe enough to consume.”
Ramdial said the EMA could not confirm the source of the substance, but said the authority should be able to determine that soon.
The EMA said last night that in collaboration with WASA tests were conducted at the well from which the water is being pulled for public use, and the reading as at 6.30 p.m. yesterday was at zero milligrammes per litre (mg/L) for total petroleum hydrocarbons.
The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) stated it was monitoring the situation along with WASA, the EMA, the National Operations Centre (NOC), the Ministries of Health, Education and Local Government, and the first-responder agencies (Fire Service, Defence Force, Police Service and the Disaster Management Units) to ensure the safety of citizens.
Chaguanas Mayor:
Water trucked to
some locations
Chaguanas Mayor Gopaul Boodhan said: “Yesterday, our technical unit spoke to WASA because we got a lot of complaints from the communities in the borough of Chaguanas that there was no water.
“WASA had sent out trucks to assist some of the institutions like the schools and some of the other areas.”
Boodhan said: “We are monitoring the situation as it relates to what they are saying about the oily substance and what is happening in terms of the quality of the water. We will continue our contact with WASA to make sure that our burgesses have the best quality of supply of water.
“We could step in and assist in the communities. As it relates to our corporation, we will need to get private contractors on WASA’s behalf. We are willing, we are ready to assist in any way because our number [one priority] is our burgesses and institutions in Chaguanas.”
60 schools
dismissed early
Sixty schools were dismissed early yesterday in as a result of contaminated water coming from the taps.
And today, pupils in the affected districts are being asked to walk with their own meals since some caterers for the school-feeding programme affected would be suspended until clearance from WASA.
A news release from the Ministry of Education yesterday evening stated: “The Ministry of Education wishes to confirm that 60 schools (41 primary and 12 secondary in Caroni; three primary and two secondary in St George East; and two primary in the Port of Spain and Environs Educational District) affected by the incident at the Caroni Water Treatment Plant were dismissed early today.”
The ministry stated: “As a precautionary measure, the Ministry of Education, through the National Schools Dietary Services Ltd, has advised caterers affected by the Caroni Water Treatment Plant to suspend their services until WASA advises that the situation is resolved.”
This means a number of ECCE centres and primary and secondary schools will not be supplied with lunch/breakfast meals today.
“Parents of students attending schools in the affected areas tomorrow (today) are therefore asked to ensure that students are provided with an adequate supply of safe drinking water,” the release stated.
