Springfield cries for water

Residents of Springfield in St James have raised concerns about the prolonged lack of piped water in their community.

The people who spoke to the WESTERN STAR during a recent visit to the hilly community said that they struggled to gather water every day while their cries go unanswered by the relevant authorities.

"It rough up here. We have no water in the pipe dem for many years now," said a frustrated Mornis Gray. "Dem need to do something because we can't continue like this. It hard and not getting any better."

Gray said that she has to venture down a hill every few days to a watering hole that does not guarantee that she will get water.

"I go down the water hole yesterday and a one hell to get a jug full. No water nuh down there," Gray said. "It's a constant thing, and it hard because is uphill me have to walk with the jug dem every time to go home."

Another resident, Nickesha Daley, expressed concern about the water quality at the source and the potential health risk to those who use it.

WESTERN STAR also learnt that adjoining communities, including Dam Road, Johns Hall, Spring Road, and Village had to purchase water.

"It might get better when the heavy rains come, but for now, it is a real struggle," John's Hall resident Dawnett Delisser, a nail technician, said. "We have tried to get help from the political representatives both in the local government, Opposition and Cabinet, but all they are doing is blaming each other."

She added: "Water trucks are pumping water from the two NWC facilities in the area and selling to us, but I am concerned that some truckers might be pumping water from sources that we cannot guarantee that it is healthy."

Residents say they have to depend on a spring in a section known as Blackshop.

Efforts to contact Derrick Kellier and Edmund Bartlett, members of Parliament for South St James and St James East Central, respectively, where the affected communities are located, were unsuccessful.