SIX MONTHS WITHOUT WATER ...Bull Bay resident wants Gov't to milk Cow Pen Spring to quench thirst

A few residents in Bull Bay in St Andrew have devised means to tackle the water woes that have been affecting them, while others have been reduced to buying from private contractors.

Michael Palmer, a farmer on Jepson Road, which is located off the Eleven Miles main road, said that he has been getting water from a spring called Cow Pen spring. He is calling on the member of parliament to dam the spring in order to supply the people in Bull Bay with water.

"We have been telling the MP to come up here, come mek a dam so the people down at the bottom can get some of the water. People shouldn't be carrying water in Jamaica because there is a lot of spring here," Palmer said.

The Jepson Road area sits on the border of east rural St Andrew, which is represented by Juliet Holness, and western St Thomas, where James Robertson is the member of parliament.

Water woes in Bull Bay yesterday forced residents to mount a roadblock at Eleven Miles in the wee hours of the morning, calling on the authorities to provide them with the life-saving commodity.

Norman Lamont said that for all the years he has been a resident of Bull Bay, there has never been a proper water supply to the area.

"This morning, we staged a roadblock because the people haven't had water in their pipes for the last six months, and outside of that this area is having water problem for several years through many governments. I am living here all my life, and I have never seen this area with proper water supply.

private contractor

Another resident Yusef Pattison said he has been buying water.

"We have to pay for water. There is a private contractor that I buy water from," Pattison said.

Pattison further explained that the population in the area has increased significantly, but there haven't been any changes to the water supply to the community.

"Now the scheme was built in 1976. Consider the population of the scheme from then to now. It a go increase probably double, triple, or whatever. If you don't build a bigger catchment there must be a water problem," Pattison said.

Meanwhile, the National Water Commission has warned customers in a statement that there might be disruption to their services after workers chained the gates at their main office and staged a strike in protest of better allowances.

Winston Anderson, a union delegate, told THE STAR the workers should get what is owed to them.

"The workers should get what they deserve or what is owing to them. In terms of the allowances, the commission owes the workers their allowance. And, it's really not anything much, but they refuse to settle that," Anderson said.