Water problems at Goodwill Health Centre

The Goodwill Health Centre, which sits on the St James and Trelawny border, has been starved of adequate water supply, the residents said.

They complained to the WESTERN STAR that they are not getting the best of the facility as it is regularly plagued by the absence of water, a feature that is affecting the entire community.

According to staff members at the health centre, the Type One clinic, which services the Goodwill and surrounding communities, rarely has running water, and for the most part has to rely on trucked water to keep its critical operations going.

"It has been like this for a long time. We rarely get any water in our pipes," said Aldith Williams, a community health aide at the Goodwill Health Centre. "It is a really big issue for us as our health department has to send us water at times."

"The National Water Commission (NWC) really needs to come and sort out this thing ... . The people are constantly going to their office to make complaints about the water situation in the community, but nothing of note has been done," said Williams.

CENTRAL STANDPIPE

With not many households in Goodwill blessed with running water, residents have to depend on a standpipe in the heart of the community to get their drinking water. However, like at the health centre, the water supply to the standpipe is unreliable, which poses a major concern to the residents.

"You would normally see persons in the community walking with their jugs going up to the standpipe to catch water, but plenty of times they come back empty-handed because there is no water," said Derrick Hines, a resident of the community.

"The community overall is affected and this is also a problem in neighbouring communities like Chatham and Content," added Hines.

Ladane Gardner, another resident of the community, said that when it comes to water, the rain is their best friend, even though it sometimes leaves the roads in a deplorable state.

"Water is a big problem and so are the roads. We really need a reliable source of water, and something needs to be done about the bad roads," said Gardner.