WATER SECURITY IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO:
What We Have, What We Are Already Struggling to Deliver, and What Large AI Data Centres Could Mean
The question is not only whether Trinidad and Tobago has water.
The question is whether Trinidad and Tobago has enough reliable, treated and deliverable water to satisfy existing households and businesses while accommodating major new industrial users—particularly large AI data centres—without worsening the service already being experienced by citizens.
The answer cannot be determined simply by looking at the amount of water stored in our reservoirs.
Trinidad and Tobago has substantial water resources and reservoir storage. However, the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) has explicitly acknowledged that the country is not water-scarce while also stating that WASA is unable to maintain a 24/7 water supply to all customers. The RIC attributes intermittent supply primarily to inadequacies in the distribution infrastructure, with the situation becoming worse during the dry season when reduced rainfall decreases available surface water.
That distinction is critical.
1. WHAT TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO HAS
The country's major reservoirs provide substantial storage capacity:
| RESERVOIR | STORAGE CAPACITY |
|---|---|
| Caroni–Arena | ≈ 10.25 billion Imperial gallons |
| Navet | ≈ 4.20 billion Imperial gallons |
| Hollis | ≈ 1.04 billion Imperial gallons |
| Hillsborough | ≈ 224 million Imperial gallons |
| TOTAL | ≈ 15.71 billion Imperial gallons |
But reservoir capacity is not the same thing as water available to consumers.
Water has to be collected, treated, transmitted and distributed through a network that is old, vulnerable and subject to significant losses and operational constraints.
WASA itself has acknowledged that ageing infrastructure and increased non-revenue water, combined with climate-change effects, have significantly affected the volume of water available for consumption. In WASA's documentation for new water-treatment projects, the Authority stated that some communities had been receiving water as infrequently as once every nine days.
That is not a theoretical infrastructure problem. It is a service-delivery problem.
2. WHAT WASA SAYS ABOUT THE CURRENT SERVICE
WASA's own verified figures provide a stark picture.
In May 2025, WASA reported that only:
19% of customers received continuous 24/7 supply during 2024.
27% received continuous 24/7 supply during January–April 2025.
WASA attributed the continuing service problems to ageing infrastructure, climate impacts and operational inefficiencies.
Therefore, when discussing water availability, it is misleading to say simply:
"Trinidad has billions of gallons stored."
The relevant question is:
How much reliable, safe water can actually be delivered to consumers, and how consistently?
A reservoir full of water does not provide a household with water if the treatment plant, transmission system, pumping system or distribution network cannot reliably deliver it.
3. CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING THE PROBLEM MORE DIFFICULT
The RIC's analysis is particularly important because it connects water security directly to climate change.
The RIC records that the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service has projected warmer and longer dry seasons and reduced rainfall during wet seasons.
The RIC also notes that climate change is expected to increase evaporation during dry seasons, further complicating water-supply management. It warns that changes in rainfall patterns can mean more intense rainfall over shorter periods, which can reduce the effectiveness of rainfall in replenishing groundwater and can negatively affect surface-water quality.
This means that the issue is not simply:
"Do we have enough rain?"
It is:
"Can rainfall reliably replenish the water sources at the rate at which society is consuming water?"
That is a much more serious water-security question.
4. THE RIC HAS ALREADY IDENTIFIED THE STRUCTURAL PROBLEM
The RIC has said that most customers receive scheduled water primarily because of inadequacies in the water-distribution infrastructure.
It further states that dry-season conditions exacerbate the problem because limited rainfall reduces the availability of surface water.
The RIC has therefore proposed that WASA's dry-season planning should move beyond short-term emergency responses and incorporate:
long-term water-security planning;
risk management;
minimum levels of supply to customers;
monitoring of the actual level of supply received;
performance monitoring;
contingency planning; and
better reporting on whether published supply schedules are actually being met.
This is important because water rationing is not a normal measure of a fully resilient water system. It is a mechanism for managing scarcity or system constraints.
5. DESALINATION HELPS—BUT CAPACITY IS NOT THE SAME AS ACTUAL PRODUCTION
Trinidad also has desalination capacity.
The Point Lisas desalination plant operated by DESALCOTT has a normal supply capacity of approximately 40 million Imperial gallons per day (MIGD).
But even this number must be interpreted correctly.
WASA has documented occasions when DESALCOTT's production fell substantially below its normal 40 MIGD. In February 2023, for example, production was reduced to 15 MIGD because of repairs to a collapsed backwash pipeline. WASA stated that the plant normally supplied 40 million gallons per day and expected to ramp back up to that level after the repairs.
Therefore:
40 MIGD is capacity/full production—not a guarantee that 40 MIGD will be available every day under every circumstance.
That distinction becomes extremely important when calculating whether Trinidad has spare water capacity for a new major industrial customer.
6. THE AI DATA-CENTRE QUESTION
Two proposed AI/data-centre projects have been announced with an initial combined electrical requirement of approximately:
450 MW
EY-related project: approximately 300 MW
Hummingbird AI: approximately 150 MW
The Hummingbird proposal has reportedly contemplated expansion to approximately 500 MW.
If both projects eventually reach those stated levels, the potential combined electricity requirement could therefore reach approximately:
800 MW
But electricity is only one resource.
A large AI data centre also requires:
water for cooling, depending on the cooling technology;
land;
telecommunications infrastructure;
electricity transmission infrastructure;
backup power;
wastewater management;
construction materials;
and other supporting infrastructure.
7. WATER REQUIREMENTS MUST BE DISCLOSED BEFORE APPROVAL
There is no responsible single number that can be assigned to the water requirements of an AI data centre without knowing its cooling technology and its projected Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE).
Using illustrative WUE scenarios, however, the potential scale can be demonstrated.
At approximately 0.465 litres of water per kWh, continuous operation would produce approximately:
| AI LOAD | ILLUSTRATIVE COOLING WATER REQUIREMENT |
|---|---|
| 150 MW | ≈ 0.37 MIGD |
| 300 MW | ≈ 0.74 MIGD |
| 450 MW | ≈ 1.11 MIGD |
| 500 MW | ≈ 1.23 MIGD |
| 800 MW | ≈ 1.96 MIGD |
These are scenario estimates, not disclosed requirements for the Trinidad projects.
Under a much more water-intensive cooling scenario, the requirement could be several times higher.
That is why the Government and developers should disclose the actual projected WUE and cooling design before anyone concludes that the water requirement is insignificant.
8. PUTTING THE AI DEMAND AGAINST DESALINATION
Using the illustrative medium scenario:
450 MW → approximately 1.11 MIGD
Against DESALCOTT's 40 MIGD nominal capacity, that represents approximately:
2.8% of DESALCOTT's nominal capacity.
An eventual 800 MW → approximately 1.96 MIGD, equivalent to approximately:
4.9% of DESALCOTT's nominal capacity.
Those percentages may appear modest.
But that is not the end of the analysis.
The question is whether the AI facilities would receive a guaranteed, dedicated water supply while ordinary consumers continue to experience scheduled or unreliable service.
9. THE PUBLIC-INTEREST QUESTION
The issue therefore should not be framed as:
"Should Trinidad and Tobago have AI data centres?"
The better question is:
"Under what conditions should Trinidad and Tobago allocate scarce and strategically important public resources to very large private industrial facilities?"
Before approval, the public should know:
Exactly how much water each data centre will require.
What cooling technology will be used.
What its projected Water Usage Effectiveness will be.
Whether potable water will be used.
Whether desalinated water will be used.
Whether reclaimed or treated wastewater will be used.
Who will finance the dedicated water infrastructure.
Whether the facilities will have priority access during droughts.
What happens to the allocation when reservoirs fall below critical levels.
Whether the facilities can be required to reduce consumption during water shortages.
What wastewater and thermal-discharge impacts will result.
Who ultimately owns and benefits from the projects.
10. THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS QUESTION
This is where the issue becomes much larger than the AI industry.
Water is a shared national resource.
If a community is receiving water intermittently while a new industrial customer receives a guaranteed supply, the question is not simply how much water the industrial customer consumes.
The question becomes:
Who has priority over the resource?
The RIC's own work recognizes that Trinidad and Tobago must plan for water security under increasingly difficult climatic conditions and that existing infrastructure already prevents WASA from providing 24/7 service to all customers.
WASA's own figures show that continuous 24/7 supply reached only 19% of customers in 2024, rising to 27% in the first four months of 2025.
At the same time, WASA's current public information continues to show active water disruptions and temporary supply schedules in 2026.
Therefore, the burden of proof should not rest on citizens to demonstrate that AI data centres will cause shortages.
The developers should demonstrate that their projects will not compromise existing water security.
THE STANDARD SHOULD BE SIMPLE:
No new major industrial water commitment should be approved without a transparent assessment of existing supply, climate-change risk, drought scenarios, infrastructure capacity, cooling-water requirements and the protection of domestic consumers.
Trinidad and Tobago does not merely need more water.
It needs water security.
And water security means having enough safe, reliable and resilient supply for people first, while determining transparently what additional industrial demand the country can sustainably support.
Edited by: CAIR Digital
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