Residents in parts of St Joseph and St George have been grappling with extended water outages, some lasting more than a week, with few updates from the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) about when normal service will resume, Barbados TODAY has learned.
While some St George communities reported facing water challenges for more than three weeks, during visits to several districts, the residents said outages had persisted for just over a week.
Groves, St George, where there has been no water since Saturday. (LG)
In Cottage Grove, a carpenter who has lived in the area for more than 20 years said he had heard no official announcements but managed to collect water when a tanker passed through.
He said: “Water off all now from since Saturday. The truck came last night. I got buckets inside and a drum.”
The man in his sixties opened his taps to show that no water was coming. When asked what he would do if the water he collected ran out before the truck returned, he replied that he has a backup plan: “I got a sister up the road, I will go up by she to bathe. If she don’t have water I will go round the corner by the standpipe to get water.”
He explained that the area is supplied with water from two different main reservoirs. “This is Golden Ridge and the front road is Bowmanston. So when Bowmanston giving water, Golden Ridge don’t give you.”
The carpenter highlighted the difficulties faced by those who have no water and their inability to attend school or work. “…and you know people’s want to fire you for all these kinda of ignorance.”
He admitted that this is the first time this has happened since moving here. At the end of his street, just three lots away, residents there had running water, but across the road, two houses away, a female resident said she too was experiencing the same predicament.
She told Barbados TODAY that her taps also stopped flowing on Saturday: “I ain’t called, other people called. We can’t bathe, can’t flush the toilet, Sunday we couldn’t cook.”
The middle-aged woman said that although she doesn’t work, others in her household go to school and work. She said they had to call in to the BWA: “You can’t go to the people’s place musky. I heard they say a truck went out here Sunday but I didn’t see it come down here.”
She acknowledged that the water sometimes comes on briefly and then shuts off again:“Can’t complain, this is the first time. People all down St Lucy still ain’t got no water and St Joseph so, this is the first time.”
She added: “If you gonna send off the water, at least say something.”
In St Joseph, households are facing similar challenges. At Retreat Village, Dave said he has been relying on his girlfriend’s home for water, as his own residence in Lower Park remains without supply.
“I think a truck passed by on Monday. I don’t see any pass back.” He described the routine of collecting water during the early hours when it briefly returns. “Right now the water comes on at two o’clock in the morning, we get up and fill up and then ‘bout four o’clock, it goes off.”
Where he lives at Lower Parks, St Joseph, there is no water, he said. “No water at all, last week. You have to leave and go all the way to Belleplaine to get water from the standpipe. From last week Monday.”
At Spa Hill, St Joseph, an elderly man told Barbados TODAY there has been low water pressure since last week: “When the water leave the pump station, the water goes down on the bottom, build and then come back up, but if the pressure is low, people on the high level won’t get any water, but people on the bottom will get. The pressure has to be high in order for the people to get.”
He noted that water tankers have been coming through, and they are supposed to return. He acknowledged that this hasn’t happened for over four years, since the Castle Grant pumping station was built. “This problem was an ongoing problem, though, for years, but since they built the reservoir, we haven’t had this problem for a long time,” he said.
The Barbados Water Authority has issued several notices in recent days. On Saturday, it said it was “advising residents at the higher elevations of St Joseph that it is currently experiencing low levels at one of its reservoirs supplying the parish. This is impacting customers with low pressure or intermittent water outages”.
On Sunday, the BWA said it was investigating complaints from parts of St George and St Thomas about low pressure or intermittent supply.
By Wednesday, another notice warned that some areas of St Joseph and St George could continue to experience interruptions because of low reservoir levels.
The authority also indicated that works were under way — and in some cases completed — to address a defective hydrant in St Joseph and a burst main at Bourne’s Village, St George.
(LG)
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