I have read and listened to with interest the exchanges between the Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) and the management of WASA in the matter of the current shortage of potable water in Tobago. While WASA is on solid ground in pointing to the low level of rainfall in the island this could very well be a blessing in disguise as it raises a fundamental issue which, though seemingly unconnected, impinges on the ongoing matter of internal self government for Tobago.
I have always wondered at the rationale behind the responsibility for services such as water supply in Tobago not having been bestowed to the THA. This seems to have had its origin in what I would term "administrative bigness" which was the guiding principle in the setting up of Statutory Authorities in the post-Independence period.
I am of the view, therefore, that the WASA Act and the Schedule of the THA Act should both be amended to transfer responsibility for the subject water to the THA. After all, at the moment (nor is it ever envisaged in the future,) neither Tobago nor Trinidad supplies each other from water resources located in the other.
My understanding is that the rationale for the arrangement was said originally to be (a) the need to have the level of expertise required available to Tobago, and (b) the added assumption that economies of scale were to be reaped for Tobago were there to be bulk-purchasing of materials and supplies for the production and distribution processes.
These assumptions are, of course, of doubtful validity. I can see therefore, no compelling reason for having the water supply agency in Tobago, as it were, tied (figuratively) to the coattails of St Joseph. Such cutting of the nexus between St Joseph and Scarborough will, of course, see the THA being responsible for water rates and charges in Tobago.
A friend (recently deceased) who was a technical officer at the now defunct Water Resources Agency who had spent much of his time on assignment in Tobago, used to bemoan the widespread existence of what, to him, was the environmentally unsightly widespread existence of water tanks throughout Tobago. He was firm that the water resources of Tobago, if properly harnessed, would obviate the need for tanks. He used to point out:
(a) the need to de-silt the Hillsborough Dam–a project which had been on the drawing board since the 1980s; and
(b) the need to bring into production boreholes at aquifers and waterfalls etc, which had been identified.
I am not now in a position either to question or to verify the above assumptions. I did read, however, that the de-silting of the Hillsborough Dam–the single most important source of the water supply in Tobago–could not have been proceeded with due to an inability to locate a suitable site at which the deposits could be placed. Should this be the case, what of Studley Park, lying a relatively short distance away? Could these deposits not be used as landfill for a new port at Studley Park?
In any event, assuming that there has been a permanent shift in climate which may affect Tobago negatively, consideration would have to be given to the erection of desalination plants were Tobago to be enabled to attain its goal as a tourist haven.
Errol OC Cupid,
Trincity, Tacarigua