Guest column: Water For All by Steve Alvarez

I was pleasantly surprised today (Sunday) to read about the possible light rail system above the Priority Bus Route. 

Last week I also read that the Prime Minister was contemplating making the pan yards social centres where youth can showcase their talent and much more. 

These are ideas that form part of my overall vision for Trinidad & Tobago and I am pleased to see that the Government of Trinidad & Tobago is addresssing the concerns of our citizens. This is wonderful and it gives me hope that many aspects of the crime plan I forwarded will one day be a reality. 

Already the computerization of criminal data and motor vehicle information is on the way and should be accessible in police mobile units. Specially forged number plates, taser guns and electronic speed measuring devices may soon follow. 

If the trend continues we can look forward to cable cars instead of expensive and environmentally hazardous tunnels. Soon we may very likely see an evacuation plan for the major cities and an economic plan where a number of different innovation initiatives will replace our dependence on oil and gas. 

Steel pan factories, large scale farms with livestock, Tilapia and ground provisions, marketing of Carnival and the development of Chacachacare are all possibilities that will ignite the imagination of our citizens and propel Trinidad & Tobago towards developed nation status. It is with this excitement in mind that I add to my many suggestions the solution to our water distribution system.

Trinidad & Tobago has more than enough water to supply all our industries and citizens with water on a daily basis. The problem is we have not done much to increase the storage facilities at the major reservoirs.

 I dealt with that aspect in past articles and I maintain that if we were to increase our storage facilities there will be no need for desalination plants. Our major challenge is distribution. The solution is gravity feed. 

Trinidad & Tobago is exceedingly lucky as all or our major cities, towns and villages are surrounded by hills and mountains. On a recent hike to the mountains overlooking the Mount St Benedict Monastery, I realised that a strategically placed water storage facility on that mountain can supply water to the entire communities along the east west corridor. 

Water distribution via gravity will necessitate building large tanks and or storage facilities on the higher elevations, pumping water to them and allowing gravity to distribute the water. This is not new to Trinidad as the Laventille tanks, the reservoirs at St Paul Street, the tanks at Mount Hope and Picton were all made to facilitate this process. The problem is that we have not aggressively continued with this type of distribution system. 

There are many advantages to this type of distribution when compared to pumps. The disadvantages of pumps distribution are many; among them is unequal pressure with higher pressure closer to the pump, cost of mechanical repairs and maintenance, electricity costs and inappropriate location. 

With gravity the pressure is equally distributed and it eliminates the need for monitoring of pumps and the manpower associated with water shedding to ensure that areas further away from the pump and on higher elevation access water.

Gravity water distribution is an efficient ancient way of ensuring water is distributed. The Romans built a number of aqueducts and channels to supply water to Rome. 

New York City today, gets ninety five (95%) of its water via gravity. Wikipedia (an online encyclopaedia) states the NYC water system has storage capacity of 550 billion US gallons (2.1×109 m3) and provides over 1.2 billion US gallons (4,500,000 m3) per day of drinking water to more than eight million city residents. 

Three separate sub-systems, each consisting of reservoirs and aqueducts, bring water from Upstate New York to the city. Water flows by gravity through three tunnels under the city, where water rises again to the surface under natural pressure through a number of shafts. 

Over the next three years WASA should embark on a number of strategically places storage systems on the hills and mountains overlooking our communities and use gravity to distribute our water throughout Trinidad & Tobago.

The Vision I have for Trinidad & Tobago is not mine for political gain it is an inspiration from God to share with all of Trinidad & Tobago. It is my humble prayer that together we can all contribute towards building a better Nation for our citizens and the generations that will one day benefit from our endeavors. May God Bless Our Nation.

Steve Alvarez