Approximately 400 residents in the Beverly Heights Extension and Mayfair Gardens community in Santa Cruz now have an improved water supply.
This, as the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) commissioned a Booster Station on Tuesday capable of delivering over 50,000 gallons of water per day.
The cutting of the ribbon signified a new beginning for the residents of the Beverly Heights Extension and Mayfair Gardens communities.
According to one resident, having her water woes addressed was her number one plea to the Member of Parliament for St. Ann’s East, Dr. Nyan Gadsby-Dolly. She said the improved water supply was something that the community waited for, for many years.
“I said I’m tired of being a mountain goat because you see to climb up that side of La Canoa to go up that hill? Yeah, we were like mountain goats because it was not an easy thing, because it’s not a road you have to go past people’s homes and tracks and all these kinds of things, so today we are very appreciative.”
MP for St. Ann’s East and Minister of Education, Dr. Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, said she has been working towards a solution to the water supply concerns of the residents since 2015.
“Now we have reached this stage where there is a pipeline. I want to thank the residents for their patience because they understood that it couldn’t be done all at one time, but they understood that development is always incremental, you do a bit, you do a bit, and then you get to where you want to go.”
Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales told residents that there are plans to further improve their water supply.
“I think next month we will be turning the sod for the start of the construction of the largest, one of the largest, water treatment plants in this area, and that is the new Santa Cruz Water Treatment Plant.”
Minister Gonzales said the new plant will be extracting water from the Santa Cruz River, enabling the area to have its own water supply.
“The water in this area comes from all the way, from Caroni, supplemented from the Caroni Water Treatment Plant. Santa Cruz, after that plant is constructed, will now be exporting water to nearby communities like San Juan and those areas because the plant is going to be producing 5 million gallons of water from the Santa Cruz River, which should bring almost every community in Santa Cruz to a 24/7 supply of water.”
He said the new plant will be funded by the Inter-American Development Bank.