Shop back in business

AFTER a prolonged water shortage shut her breakfast shop two weeks ago, owner of the M& R Veggie Mart in Mandingo Road, Meela Dube, says she has since been able to reopen the doors to her main source of income.

Dube in May told the Express that a long-standing issue of limited water supplies had grown worse with the national water crisis that occurred as a result of depleted reservoirs and decreased rainfall throughout the month of May.

By mid-May she said her shop, which sells a number of items and breakfast to the Mandingo community, was forced to close as she did not have water to clean or cook at that time.

But soon after her plight was highlighted in the Express, she said, supplies had returned to her pipe at least two times, filling tanks and allowing her to perform the necessary cooking and cleaning.

‘We had water two times since the article, which is a miracle. I did not get the truck-borne service, but would you believe we got water in the line? We got two times. It was good pressure to fill the tanks and I am so, so, so happy. I am watching to see if it comes one or two times a week. I would be okay, just for the tanks to fill. It is a miracle. We were able to reopen, we cleaned up and reopened,’ she said.

Dube said the truckborne supplies she had requested in the interim did not make it to her home before supplies were returned to her pipes. And although the shop has not been able to make up for the loss of income, she said, she remained grateful.

‘We didn’t really make up the losses; I don’t think I can right now, it will take some time. Right now, I am trying to stock back and replace and pay the bills too. The little we get, we are grateful. Once the water is there and I am able to work I am grateful. Thank you to (the Express) and to WASA for seeing and hearing,’ she said.

In late May, Dube complained that her home and shop, situated on an incline off Mandingo Road in Princes Town, had not seen supplies for weeks and was fully dependent on the Authority’s truck-borne water services. To survive, she said, she had no choice but to shut the shop and complete the most basic tasks at the homes of relatives and friends outside of the area.

Dube had said a number of homes situated along the incline had been affected for years by a lack of water pressure. Although homes closer to the main roads may receive intermittent pipe-borne supplies, her home was one of a few that rarely saw enough pressure to fill a tank.

Despite this, she said, requests to the WASA through its hotlines and through its service offices for a truck-borne supply were seldom effective.

Responding to the Express in May, WASA said the area, supplied by the Navet Water Treatment Plant and located at an elevated point, was affected by the harsh dry season that led to cutbacks in production at the plant from 19.8 million gallons per day MGD) to 15.

WASA added that the area was at the extremity of the distribution system.

‘To mitigate this impact, the Authority has increased its water- trucking capacity and is placing focus on customers located along these areas.’

‘The Mandingo Road area last received a supply on May 21; however, some customers did not obtain a service. The Authority is in the process of servicing those affected customers through a truck-borne supply,’ the Authority had said