St James residents demand answers over days of dirty water

Res­i­dents of St James say they have been forced to cope with brown and, in some cas­es, al­most black wa­ter flow­ing from their taps since the week­end, dis­rupt­ing dai­ly life and rais­ing con­cerns about con­t­a­m­i­na­tion.

The dis­coloured wa­ter has af­fect­ed house­holds’ abil­i­ty to cook, wash, brush their teeth and car­ry out oth­er rou­tine ac­tiv­i­ties. Res­i­dents al­so say the prob­lem has led to the con­t­a­m­i­na­tion of wa­ter tanks, house­hold fil­tra­tion sys­tems and swim­ming pools, cre­at­ing ad­di­tion­al clean­ing and main­te­nance costs.

St James res­i­dent San­dra Ma­haraj yes­ter­day told Guardian Me­dia she first no­ticed the is­sue on Sun­day morn­ing while prepar­ing food.