MINISTER of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales said during the recent hot spell, WASA was losing 36 million gallons of water each day from its reservoirs owing to fallout from climate change, speaking in an interview on Thursday, June 13 with television personality Wendell Etienne, posted on WASA's YouTube channel.
"Climate change is taking its toll upon us as a nation, as a region and as a world, and it requires urgent and decisive action," the minister said.
Gonzales said 60 per cent of WASA's water comes from surface water, namely rivers and streams, but this source is a very vulnerable to climate change.
In this vein, he said reservoirs at Navet, Hollis and Hillsboro had been "impacted significantly" by recent drought-like conditions linked to climate change.
"The heat and the evaporation that is happening right now, these storage reservoirs have been impacted significantly," he said, "And as a result of that, WASA is losing 36 million gallons of water per day." Saying this had all been anticipated, he said WASA was acting to build its resilience.
"We have drilled over 11 ground water wells in strategic areas around the country – in Freeport, in Mayaro, Tobago, Arouca, just to name a few, and Valencia.
"As a result of that, WASA is producing four million gallons of water more and that four million gallons remained intact during this drought-like condition, whereas our rivers and reservoirs have been declining." Gonzales said these wells have remained very resilient despite recent dry conditions.
He said WASA will drill 23 more wells to yield about eight million gallons, in areas such as Palo Seco, Granville, Mayaro, Freeport, Valencia and Tucker Valley.
Gonzales said the UN had said WASA produces adequate water for a 1.4 million population, respectively 240 million gallons daily in the wet season and 215 million gallons in the dry season. He said efforts were being made to help protect water sources by regulating squatting, hillside development and activities in forests.
Mulling WASA's costs relative to its customer rates, he said it was not a sexy nor comfortable conversation but he spoke openly and slept well at night.
He said TT has virtually the lowest water rates in the Western Hemisphere.
"To operate WASA it requires an injection of maybe $2 billion – (including) $1.2 billion or $1.3 billion from the State – to allow you to treat the water, pump the water, transmit the water, and distribute it to citizens. Out of that $2.2 billion or $2.3 billion, WASA only contributes about $700 million.
"Because the rate that the utility agency collects for the water it produces is simply not enough."
Gonzales said the $700 million WASA collects from customers was not even enough to pay its desalination bill.
Due to this shortfall, WASA needed Government help to buy chemicals to treat water, pay salaries, refurbish pumps and plants, make capital investment, and expand/improve its service.
He said ideally a utility company should be in a financial position to meet its operational expenditure
