Ralph Banwarie
Mayaro MP Rushton Paray has held strategic meeting between senior officials from the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and representatives from various local village councils.
The objective of the meeting was aimed to address the persistently inadequate water distribution service experienced by communities in and around Mayaro.
Members of the participating village councils raised concerns pertaining to scheduling, water trucking, communications, road repairs, water pressure, and the pressing issue of landslips within the Authority's purview.
During his opening remarks, MP Paray emphasized that access to water is an essential human right that cannot be assigned a price tag.
He stated that every citizen is entitled to a regular and dependable supply of water, stressing that the prolonged periods of 10, 14, and 21 days without water were irresponsible, unacceptable, and inhumane in the year 2023.
While MP Paray acknowledged the medium and long-term strategies outlined by WASA to achieve a 24/5 or 24/7 water supply across the entire constituency, he highlighted the urgent need to address the immediate requirements of the affected population.
To this end, the MP proposed considering a decentralized model for water trucking and customer trucking requests in collaboration with the Mayaro Regional Corporation.
In response WASA officials made a commitment in addressing some of the key concerns raised by the Village Councils, focusing on feasible short-term solutions.
Additionally, they pledged to keep MP Paray apprised of the progress made in both the medium and long-term initiatives, while also committing to explore enhanced water trucking methods to meet the pressing needs of the affected communities.