Over 200 residents of the community of Marac, Moruga have lived their entire lives without a pipe-borne water supply.
Up until now, they have relied on rain and communal tanks which are placed about 100 feet apart along the roadway and are filled sometimes once a week by WASA.
The residents are crying out for assistance and they want their Member of Parliament, Dr Lovell Francis, to make a call to WASA to run pipelines in the community.
The T&T Guardian visited the community and spoke to Ronald Huggins.
Huggins, 45, said during the dry season, residents have to wait anxiously for the WASA trucks to bring water to them, as there is little rainfall.
“I remember when Mr (Basdeo) Panday was in office, he had said ‘Water for all’ but we never benefited from that, we have been suffering for water in Marac our entire lives,” Huggins said.
“We depend heavily on rain water to bathe, cook and drink and when there is little or no rain, we suffer inside here. We never blocked any roads or made any big protests about our plight but it is time enough that we get some assistance in Marac.”
Leaning on the empty WASA tank in front of his house, Huggins said it had been over a week since the WASA truck filled up the tank. He pointed out one of his neighbours trekking up a hill with a bucket in each hand.
“Look, he going to check to see if the tanks higher up have water, everybody supply running low now and we never know when to expect the trucks.”
Another neighbour, John Frederick chimed in, “If you used to bathe with a bucket of water in Marac, now you have to bathe with quarter bucket.”
“Water is essential for life, we shouldn’t have to be begging for water all the time. Marac needs street lights, proper roads and more attention overall, but right now, I’ll settle for water.”
Calls and WhatsApp messages sent to Francis for comment went unanswered yesterday.
