Gov’t tackling water issues in western Jamaica

The Government is putting measures in place to ensure that citizens in western Jamaica have adequate access to water and that schools and businesses are not disrupted.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator Matthew Samuda, said he has had discussions with Kevin Kerr, acting president of the National Water Commission (NWC), to increase the monitoring and rate of trucking to educational institutions.

"We don't intend to allow for any learning loss with any of our schools," he said. "Our regional manager (NWC) has done a good job in communicating with the regional directors of the Ministry of Education and, indeed, all of our schools. We will be moving to set up a troubleshooting network by way of a WhatsApp group and an email line dedicated to schools to ensure that they are not disrupted," he added.

Samuda informed that Prime Minister Andrew Holness has directed that an immediate assessment be undertaken of public schools in Hanover and Westmoreland to increase water storage over the next four to six weeks. The assessment will be led by the Rural Water Supply Limited.

Samuda said the NWC will also be putting a "safety net" in place to ensure that operations at hotels are uninterrupted, particularly with an expected increase in arrivals as Americans travel for the Memorial Day holiday weekend in May.

"Each member of parliament in ... Hanover and Westmoreland, has $4 million at their disposal to direct trucking. We have also made available to the parish councils, $7.5 million for Hanover and $5 million for Westmoreland. We would have made some $30 million available at the end of February to facilitate trucking in western Jamaica and, of course, the Brown's Town area, which was also going through some particular challenges," he reminded. The minister assured residents that the trucking of water is being closely monitored and urged persons to report any tampering with the Water Commission network.