WE join the Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO) in condemning the acts of wreckage, sabotage and defacement against its infrastructure, something that seems not to abate at all.
Time and again WASCO has pleaded with St. Lucians to respect its water mains, its water catchment areas, its meters and other structures but to no avail as persons bent on mischief seem not to understand the importance of the messages/warnings sent out by the company to desist from such acts of criminality.
The company this week found itself having to send out yet another warning strongly condemning the vandalism to its infrastructure following the damage caused to the red main above the Castries River.
The caution comes just one day after renovation works were conducted on the line over the weekend. Technicians conducted the repairs on Saturday afternoon, following a comprehensive assessment of the situation. The main supplies water to residents in Lower Entrepot, Lower Chabot, Sunbilt, Cedars, Patterson’s Gap, Marchand, New Village, Leslie Land, Lower Pearts Gap, and Waterworks Road.
According to the company, its initial assessment, following reports that the line had been damaged again, suggests that vandals may have stolen some of the brass replacements that were installed on Saturday. It is suspected that the damage was done at some point during Saturday afternoon and early Monday morning.
Sadly this is not the first time that vandals have damaged the red main. They have forced WASCO to strongly advise against the intentional destruction of company property and further caused WASCO to stress on the illegality of vandalizing and destroying company property.
In a press release issued yesterday the company said that anyone caught defacing its infrastructure will be made to feel the full extent of the law as stated in section 90 of the Water and Sewerage Act chapter 9.03.
We take this opportunity to enlighten the miscreants who are intent on destroying WASCO’s property on what chapter 9.03 of the Act states in the hope that they would desist from such actions and in the process save themselves from an embarrassing appointment with a magistrate or the Bordelais Correctional Facility.
According to the Act, a person shall not willfully cause any pipe, valve, cock, cistern, bath, sink, pan, water closet or other apparatus belonging to, or connected with, the waterworks to be out of repair, or to be so used or contrived in such a way that the water supplied to such person is likely to be wasted, misused, unduly consumed or contaminated;
Cause any pipe belonging to or connected to a pipe of the waterworks to be used or manipulated in such a way as to occasion or allow the return of foul, noxious, or impure matter therein;
Remove, tamper with any gauge, meter, measuring instrument, level, mark, or any other appliance forming part of the waterworks;
Damage any part of the water works or sewerage works. A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction for each offence to a fine of not less than $3000.00 or to imprisonment for a period of not less than six months or both and to a further fine of not less than $50.00 for each day during which the offence continues.
In the event any damage results to waterworks or sewerage works from the commission of any of the offences mentioned in this section, the court may, in addition to the punishment imposed under subsection (2), order the person convicted under that subsection to pay compensation to the service licensee.