Electrocuted snake shuts down water supply to thousands of Trinis

(Trinidad Express) A snake that slithered into the compound WASA’s water treatment plant in North Oropouche triggered a series of events that knocked out the water supply to thousands of people along the east-west corridor and as far south as Manzanilla. The following is WASA’s statement on the bizarre incident –

Works to repair the transformer at the North Oropouche Water Treatment is expected to be completed and the water supply restored to affected customers by Wednesday 15th April, 2015. This after a snake crawled onto the transformer, coming into contact with two leads that grounded off, resulting in an electrical fire that burned the transformer wiring at the Plant last Saturday night – 11th April 2015.

This was discovered as a team that included Specialist Electrical Engineer, Peter Sammy, as well as T&TEC and WASA engineers, assessed the problem at the transformer to determine the necessary corrective measures, in order to restore the power supply to the facility.
Customers are therefore reminded to manage their water use efficiently during this period of service interruption, as a limited truck-borne water service is available with priority given to health institutions, special homes and schools.