Government has appointed a joint ministerial committee to address the drought like effects of El Nino, while the Water and Sewerage Authority embarks on rehabilitation work and the diversification of its water sources to mitigate the effects on water supply.
Minister of Public Utilities Barry Padarath said one of the Government’s primary concerns is that water levels in the nation’s reservoirs may remain below capacity despite the ongoing Wet Season.
“In light of the advice we’ve received from MET services it may appear that based on that advice the dams may not be in full capacity by December of this year.”
Minister of Planning, Economic Affairs and Development Dr Kennedy Swaratsingh, who chairs the committee, said representatives from the Ministries of Rural Development and Local Government, Education and Health will form part of the group.
“Part of what the plan envisages is also looking at areas such as trying to mitigate things like bush fires, making sure that in drought-like conditions, we don’t precipitate or inadvertently increase the likelihood of incidents like bushfires. We have to also look at disaster preparedness in terms of if we need to make sure that persons have the resources close by in terms of water. We may have to consider at some stage cooling stations.”
According to Director of the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service, Shakeer Baig, rainfall is expected to decline, while drought-like conditions are expected to peak during the months of November to February 2027.
“The current scientific outlook suggests that we should prepare for reduced rainfall during the latter part of this year’s wet season, and the worrying part for us it will extend and continue into the upcoming dry season. This could result in lower inflows in our reservoirs, which in turn may affect the availability of water for domestic, agricultural, industrial and commercial use.”
Water and Sewerage Authority Acting CEO, Dain Maharaj, said rehabilitation works are ongoing as the company strengthens its efforts.
Additionally, he announced the construction of a new water treatment plant in Tobago.
“At the Caroni Water Treatment Plant, rehabilitation of the travelling bridge is in progress steadily. Once completed, these improvements will enhance sedimentation performance and allow approximately five million gallons of water per day to be recirculated throughout the treatment process, increasing production capacity.”
He added that while recent rainfall has allowed for partial recovery, the reservoirs remain below full capacity.
“Groundwater development projects at Carapal, Signal Hill and Roxborough are expanding available production, while additional well rehabilitation initiatives continue to advance.”
Minister Padarath also noted that a lack of resources and infrastructure at WASA, when the Government entered office, saw the adoption of several short-term measures to ensure communities had access to water.
“What we have done is we have established tank farms as a short-term to medium-term measure until these desalination plants can come on stream, we’ve been speaking about them for South Trinidad and Tobago as well.”
Minister Swaratsingh said the ministerial committee has started putting measures in place to ensure that all State agencies are equipped to deal with the climate pattern.
Minister Padarath also confirmed that measures are being implemented so that students are not affected by the high temperatures and water shortages.
“There will be a review of the infrastructure at our nation’s schools as it relates to our water supply and water storage, pumps, etc., and also we will be working in tandem with local government, many times the local government bodies, the regional corporations, they will usually provide a supply of truck-borne water when needed by these schools, so it is something I would ask WASA to also work alongside local government with.”
The Minister said it will avoid the suspension of classes, which have occurred in the past.
“Sometimes in the past you would have heard schools are let out early because there is no water, usually this happens in a lot of the rural communities, but the Minister alluded to partnering with local government, and that is why it was so very important to establish this interministerial committee, where we don’t have situations like that arising going forward.”