Singing the Blues: A Look at Water Scarcity in Trinidad and Tobago

What is water scarcity in the context of Trinidad and Tobago?

The definition of water scarcity is a lack of sufficient water, or not having access to safe water supplies. Based on this definition we can see that water scarcity is a problem within the confines of this country’s border. This is of special concern as Trinidad and Tobago possesses four reservoirs: Navet, Hollis, and Caroni-Arena dams, three of which are located in Trinidad and one in Tobago, the Hillsborough dam, therefore one would expect that there is an adequate amount of water for general use, but this is far from the truth. Due to several reasons that are discussed later, it can be observed that there are gaps in the reservoir, water treatment, and delivery management that cause water scarcity within this country.

Figure 1: showing Navet Dam (WASA 2008)

What causes water scarcity?

Large gaps in various points along the journey of water from reservoirs far in the hills to the taps of citizens exist. For example, during times of excess rainfall, mud, and silt runoff from surrounding lands into these reservoirs and as a result, the pumping system is shut down in order to prevent the overloading of the filtration cycle and causing dirty water to enter the homes of thousands a prime example of the phrase “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” as the shutting off of water pumps leaves people with clean but dry pipes.

As previously discussed in the last blogpost flooding is another cause of water scarcity as when flooding occurs the large influx of dirty water coming from rivers breaking their banks pour into the reservoirs which again cause a complete shutdown of the reservoir operation well after the flooding subsides due to increased turbidity and particulate matter. 

T&T operates at a 44-million-gallon deficit annually this is mainly caused by “ghost water”. This is unaccounted water that is lost due to leaks along the transport pathway. This provides a two-pronged problem as the water pressure is lost which prevents delivery of water and even if one leak is fixed, maintenance or fixing of another leak higher up in the system will still cause water to be shut off. The areas of Cascade, St. Anne’s, and Lady Chancellor hill have been under constant duress due to a lack of water and as a result, have constantly been requesting truck-borne water almost weekly.

Figure 2: showing a WASA pipeline leaking (Newsday 2019)

Why should we care?

Now you may be wondering why we should care, well from a policy aspect considering the government of T&T created the VISION 2030 initiative which is based on United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals these past and current problems are in direct violation of SDG 6 which is “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. Rotating the problem to a human aspect now as a lack of sanitation causes hygiene problems, and this can then affect the morale of citizens as they would not want to interact with others in the workplace or at school due to fear of shame and lastly the spread of diseases such as cholera or any other vector-borne illness that is caused by improper cleaning of food, utensils, body, or environment. Water scarcity issues are commonplace and seem more like a rite of passage of living in this country more than a glaring problem that needs to be fixed, for us to step into the future we need to learn from and bury the mistakes of our past and I strongly believe this is number one on our list. 

Figure 3: showing Water Dripping (ABC 2019)

Written by: Joshua Prentice and Nirvana Rajaram

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