From left: Jason McKay, CEO, McKay Security, with Member of Parliament Arnaldo Brown, residents Michael Anderson, Lenford Pinnock, Delroy Stephens and Dave Gabbidon, during the handover of the tank to residents. - Contributed

Filled with a sense of pride, residents of the informal Waterford 'Train Line' community on Friday thanked Member of Parliament Arnaldo Brown, Caymanas Track Limited (CTL) and McKay Security Limited for helping to alleviate their water woes.

Thrust in the news recently after McKay Security had discovered and disconnected an illegal water supply leading from Caymanas Park to the informal community, the residents were presented with a 1,000-gallon tank to make them self-sufficient in legally acquiring water.

Brown and Jason McKay, chief executive officer, McKay Security, Caymanas Park's security contractor, handed over the tank to residents on Friday.

Mounted on a concrete base, the tank is to be refilled at the expense of residents, who were told by Brown that the first filling would be free.

The residents, represented by the quartet of Michael Anderson, Lenford Pinnock, Delroy Stephens and Dave Gabbidon, all racehorse grooms employed at Caymanas Park, were thankful and promised to organise refilling of the tank.

"Wi give thanks, still," said Stephens, popularly known as 'Lucky'. "Afta Mr Jason pass through an si wha a gwaan, wid di likkle pickney dem an baby, him decide fi work pan a ting fi wi. Wi a guh fence it roun' because win nuh wan nobody destroy it."

Brown described the tank as "an important social intervention", which should deter the residents from breaching the racetrack's supply.

McKay said though it was his company which had moved against the illegal connections, he decided to assist after it was brought to his attention that a health crisis had surfaced.

"It is a very poor community, significantly informal. We cannot live in a vacuum and be oblivious to human suffering," he added.