Don't drink the water.
That's the message from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) to residents in areas of north, central and south Trinidad. The ODPM warned residents in those parts of Trinidad to use only bottled water for drinking and cooking.
The Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) also warned people in Central to empty their water tanks and not to drink from their pipe-borne water supply, especially if it smelled like kerosene.
The warnings came after Wasa reported an oily substance contaminating the water at its Caroni Water Treatment Plant. The Environment Management Authority is investigating the source of the contamination.
Caroni residents are particularly concerned about where their next water supply will come from.
Most people in that area are placed on a schedule in which some get water every other day, while others receive a water supply once a week. Now that they have to empty their water tank, they do not know how they will get water.
Sookesh Harricharan from Albert Trace, Kelly Village said when he came home today he picked up the garden hose and drank from it as he usually does. However, he immediately spat out the water when he realised that it was not only tasting bad, but smelling foul. Harricharan said only he drinks from the hose but the rest of his family drinks boiled water. Now, they have to throw out their water supply. Harricharan said he does not know what he is going to do about water because his family can neither bathe or drink the water. He added that he could not go to a friend or relative for water because every one in the area are experiencing the same problem.
Many Caroni residents also expressed concern about having to empty their water supply, but they said they were not concerned about their drinking water because they often received dirty water and they only drank bottled water.
Mary Cartagen, a resident from Piarco Village, said people in the area have been having water problems days before the water got contaminated. She said for the whole week her family has been drinking from bottled water because of the dirty water coming from their taps. More than a dozen schools have been affected by the water contamination. The Education Ministry estimates 14 schools were sent home.
Linda Maharaj, principal of St Helena Community Early Child Care Education centre, said the school remained open, but many parents chose to pick up their children from school. She said originally the school was not aware of the contamination because they did not have the radio on during class. However, early in the day parents began to call the school to inform them of the water problem.
Business owner Bobby Maharaj said he wants whoever was responsible for contaminating the area to be held accountable. He said many times people frequently dump their waste in the river. He claimed that even contractors dump their refuse into the river water.
Maharaj is calling on authorities to take legal action against those who dumped the diesel into the water and a comprehensive education programme be done to ensure that people do not dump their waste in the water again.