Rough road to dry taps

Things have been bitter for some residents of Sweet Vale, St George, who say they are tired of battling with persistent water woes and poor roads, and want action taken to fix them.

Those who spoke to the DAILY NATION recently recounted days where the water would suddenly be gone for hours or days without warning, and when it returned, it was discoloured and not fit for use. 

The road was so bad, they lamented, that it had caused severe damage to vehicles, leaving motorists to spend major sums on repairs.

Thelma Inniss, who has lived in the area for about 50 years, said the water issues started just before the COVID-19 pandemic. She spoke of resorting to using bottled water as that from the tap was not good enough to use. With the outages, she said, she has often had to store water in buckets for daily use. 

Inniss lamented that like many in the area, she still had to pay the full water bill, which came without deductions even though the supply was scarce.  

As for the road, she said it has been that way “for a very long time” and affected both motorists and pedestrians. 

Jachad Lowman said he has also experienced discoloured water and inadequate supply. He uses a filter on his pipes and as he unscrewed the filtration pipe on the outside, a thick brown sludge remained. 

His mother said they usually purchased bottles or cases of water, as the tap water could only be used to flush the toilet. 

“We have a tank but the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) told us to hook it up to the pipe in order for them to come and fill it up, and that is the only way we can get it filled up,” he said. 

He said the issue started more than two years ago and they were still faced with paying the water bills, the highest amounting to $600.

Lowman said the road issue was ongoing for years. 

“This road is probably one of the worst roads in Barbados. I know someone who had to change their suspension for the car three times in one year because of it.”

Another frustrated householder, who did not want to be named, said that at least four times a week she gets no water at some hours of the day, and when it did come on, sometimes it was discoloured, making everyday tasks like washing, cooking and cleaning impossible.

“Sometimes you go and turn on the tap and when you come back the tap dry. There’s no water in it at all and you still paying a lot of money for the water every month. The bill comes out very timely – as you finish pay one, the next one is there. It’s crazy.”

The woman said she has made many calls to the BWA but with no success, and was now tired of complaining because nothing was ever rectified.

Efforts to get a response from the BWA’s marketing and communications department via phone and email yesterday were unsuccessful up to press time. 

Kim Sealy decried what she called the lack of serious efforts to fix the road.

“Late last year, the truck was through here patching up the road. They said it was 60 holes but they only patched up three. I asked one of them if they weren’t going any further with the truck and they said no, they only supposed to go there a short distance. Only three little holes and you also left the ‘wells’,” she cried. 

Sealy said she has had to fork out a large amount of money on repairs to her vehicle as a result, which has added to her frustration. 

“I am tired. We were talking from [former parliamentary representative] Gline Clarke’s time and nothing happened. Nobody can’t come and say they going to do. Do it. People need to stop talking and just do,”
she declared.

(AJ)

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