WASA condemns vandalism at Tobago wells

The Wa­ter and Sew­er­age Au­thor­i­ty has re­port­ed acts of van­dal­ism at four crit­i­cal wa­ter sup­ply fa­cil­i­ties in To­ba­go, warn­ing that the dam­age has dis­rupt­ed ser­vice to sev­er­al com­mu­ni­ties.

In a me­dia re­lease is­sued to­day, WASA said the af­fect­ed fa­cil­i­ties are Arnos Vale Well #4, Ba­co­let Well #3, Bloody Bay Well #1 and Claude Noel High­way Well.

The Au­thor­i­ty said pre­lim­i­nary re­ports in­di­cate the wells were de­lib­er­ate­ly van­dalised, re­sult­ing in op­er­a­tional dis­rup­tions and af­fect­ing its abil­i­ty to main­tain a con­sis­tent wa­ter sup­ply.

Cus­tomers in Low­lands, Lam­beau, Pa­tience Hill, Sig­nal Hill, Les Coteaux, Ply­mouth, Cul­lo­den, Sea View, Bloody Bay, Cas­tara, Lanse Four­mi and Par­latu­vi­er are now ex­pe­ri­enc­ing dis­rup­tions to their pipe-borne wa­ter sup­ply.

WASA re­mind­ed the pub­lic that van­dal­ism of pub­lic prop­er­ty is a crim­i­nal of­fence un­der the Sum­ma­ry Of­fences Act and the Ma­li­cious Dam­age Act, with of­fend­ers li­able to fines and im­pris­on­ment.

The Au­thor­i­ty said it has in­creased its se­cu­ri­ty pres­ence at key fa­cil­i­ties and ac­ti­vat­ed a van­dal­ism hot­line at 465-2949. It is urg­ing mem­bers of the pub­lic to re­port any sus­pi­cious ac­tiv­i­ty near its in­fra­struc­ture.

WASA said it is as­sess­ing the ex­tent of the dam­age and car­ry­ing out cor­rec­tive work to re­store op­er­a­tions at the af­fect­ed wells. An in­ter­im wa­ter dis­tri­b­u­tion sched­ule is be­ing pre­pared to re­duce the im­pact on af­fect­ed com­mu­ni­ties and will be shared in a sub­se­quent re­lease.

The Au­thor­i­ty apol­o­gised for the in­con­ve­nience and thanked cus­tomers for their pa­tience as restora­tion ef­forts con­tin­ue.