On Tuesday, Siparia Water Treatment Plant and a main water transmission line at Godineau River, Mosquito Creek failed, disrupting the pipe-borne water supply to large portions of the southern community on the eve of Divali celebrations.
While the Water and Sewerage Authority was responding to those two problems, another water line at Mon Repos Roundabout ruptured.
In a press release, the authority announced it was using its internal resources to repair the lines.
WASA pressed home that commitment by dispatching 150 metres of pipeline, 30 metres of fabricated pipework and material to rebuild the collapsed structure supporting the heavy 36-inch pipeline.
The materials drop was matched with an all-nighter on Wednesday, as WASA's teams worked to rebuild and repair the support structure.
Completion of repairs on the three major water transmission was expected on Friday.
The beleaguered authority demonstrated what it is capable of delivering to the communities it serves.
There is clearly more to be done by WASA to monitor its infrastructure and identify weaknesses that might be addressed in advance. The steel structure supporting the mains across the Godineau River was rusted and unsound before it collapsed.
But WASA's robust and sensitive response to multiple failures in its infrastructure, its early acknowledgement of the impact of its inability to supply water at an important time for the Hindu community, and its effort to put boots on the ground in support of its promises, suggest an inching-forward of the utility's ability to deliver service.
On Monday, three sinkholes appeared in Beetham Gardens, the site of a late 2021 WASA challenge, a massive road collapse on Main Street caused by a ruptured underground sewer that gutted the ground under the street.
That sinkhole took long months to repair, and the sewer systems serving Beetham residents remain a recurring problem. This week's challenge - even though, once again, WASA began repair work promptly - suggests patchwork won't be enough.
In January 2022, Works Minister Rohan Sinanan undertook to improve the condition of roads across the country and committed to working more closely with WASA on the biggest challenge to road maintenance: the notoriously widespread leaks in WASA lines that lead to potholes, sinkholes and dangerous road erosion.
Mr Sinanan and Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales drifted close to mutual finger-pointing on the issue, but over the last ten months, the two ministries appear to be evolving an approach to the problem showing greater responsiveness to the linked challenges of road repair and delivering a reliable water supply.
Better co-ordination and mutual support for the maintenance and repair of all local infrastructure should be the ultimate ambition of both ministers and the utilities responsible. Better must still be done - especially in the current straitened economic times which mean the wholesale replacement of WASA's long-obsolete infrastructure is impossible for the foreseeable f
