Pensioner calls for action by WASA

News Rishard Khan 3 Hrs Ago

Marilyn Latiff, 79, uses her walking stick to point to a leaking WASA line outside her home at Cooper Street, San Fernando on July 28. - Photo by Innis Francis

A San Fernando pensioner is calling on WASA to step up and repair the line which supplies water to her Cooper Street home.

At 79 years old, Marilyn Latiff is no longer the busy-bodied woman who once worked at Caroni 1975 Ltd.

A walking stick stabilises her modest strides, but she now wields it to point at a busted galvanised pipe in front of her home.

"I brought a plumber and as they come and they see it, they say they can't do nothing about it – that's government thing and they could get charged."

The broken line runs up from the road, under her wall and to her home.

However, what appears to be a minor problem has now upended Latiff's life since it developed on July 23.

Latiff said the resulting loss of pressure now prevents water from reaching her tanks and has left her without a supply.

Every morning since, she said she has to fill a barrel at 6 am using the slow flow of a low-lying pipe on the property.

Throughout the day, she has to carry containers up the second storey of her home to bathe, wash wares and flush her toilet.

Latiff said she reported the incident to WASA's St Joseph office but is yet to get positive feedback on a resolution to her problem, which is becoming unbearable.

Although her daughter lives with her, Latiff said she is unwell.

Newly installed WASA chairman Rodney Babwah told Newsday the matter would be treated as "urgent" and a crew would visit her on July 29.

When contacted Minister of Public Utilities Barry Padarath said he has been meeting with the Inter-American Development Bank to get funding to help upgrade WASA's infrastructure.

"Infrastructural challenges causing hardship like what Miss Marilyn has endured is a direct result of the failure of the former administration to utilise the IDB funding to address the dilapidated WASA lines. This is a matter I have been meeting with the IDB about to get the projects up and running," he said.