While Beetham Gardens received a "facelift" with a clean-up job and berm construction in time for this year's international conferences, part of the area, named for former British Governor Sir Edward Beetham, is facing a waterless Christmas, say pensioners living there. In a statement yesterday, the group stated the little community in the south western corner of Beetham Gardens was known as "Pensioners Quarters." The area–as well as the Beetham Highway, a main artery which runs alongside–was named for Beetham who was T&T's Governor in colonial days from 1955 to 1960.
Beetham served under Queen Elizabeth 11, currently on a state visit to T&T
Vernon St Clair, age 65, and spokesman for the group, said: "This is a quiet, loving community of mostly defenceless octogenarians where consistently running water had been absent for the last year. We only get a drip and then for three or four days we get no water." The statement added that the area was located next to the Civilian Conservation Corps and was fenced to protect its 70 elderly residents.
St Clair's statement noted "all these old people had complained bitterly and repeatedly" to WASA and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), which is responsible for maintaining the facility. However, the group stated, WASA told them "the ball is not in its court" and sent them to the HDC. The latter agency, however, also has distanced itself from the matter and refers it to WASA, the group notes.
?WASA responds:
?Ellen Lewis, the utility's general manager in charge of corporate communications, said in a news release yesterday: "The Beetham Gardens area is generally well served. "We have identified a problem with the connection off the 30-inch transmission main that serves Beetham Gardens. We propose to undertake a complete renewal of the connection on Monday. "In the interim, we will provide a truck-borne water service to customers upon request."
