March 12th, 2010.

Unlike Trinidad, Tobago is not experiencing a water crisis, general manager of communications at the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), Ellen Lewis, said yesterday.

Lewis said while the reserves are dropping at the Hillsborough Reservoir, Tobago continues to be in a more favourable position than Trinidad with respect to the available water supply.

’The reserve at the facility as at February end, without taking into account siltation, was 72.5 per cent of capacity, with a long-term average of 83.8 per cent,’ Lewis said.

At the close of January the reserve was at 80 per cent.

However, Lewis said there was still an urgent need for responsible and intelligent use of water, specifically by hoteliers.

’Consumers need to cut back on their level of consumption, avoid wastage and repair all household leaks.

Local business operators, particularly those in the tourism sector, must undertake an assessment of their current level of consumption and see how best the level of usage can be reduced,’ she said.

’We have already met with the Trinidad Hotel and Tourism Association and propose a similar meeting with the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association next week to seek their support on the national effort to conserve water.’

During a workshop on the Promotion of Consumer Protection in the Caribbean Project at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port of Spain yesterday, Arlene Job-Thomas, of the Tobago House of Assembly’s Consumer Affairs Unit, had also told the Express ’things were not bad’ regarding the water supply in Tobago.

’It is not as bad as I guess you hear in Trinidad, and going on the last report I got, we are not at crisis level, but we still have to be very cautious and take precaution as we go along,’ she said.

Job-Thomas admitted though, that not all the areas get water seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

’I have not heard people overly lament that they are in any kind of crisis,’ she said.

A representative from Coco Reef Resort in Tobago also told the Express during a telephone interview that they ’are managing what we have well and have no problems with their supply’.


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