Protesters weld shut gates at NWC plants, supply disruption for Manchester, Clarendon communities

The National Water Commission (NWC) is reporting that normal operations at its facilities at the border of Manchester and Clarendon have been impacted by a demonstration in the area.

The NWC says the gates of the affected facilities - Two Meetings and Moravia treatment plants – were welded shut some time between Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. 

As a result, the utility company says some team members were locked inside the facilities.

However, the employee at the Moravia facility managed to leave the plant, it said.

The NWC says no one has been able to gain access to the facilities.

While the Two Meetings plant is still operational, the Moravia plant is now out of service because the power supply panel that provides electricity for that facility was damaged by unknown persons, the NWC stated.  

It says the outage at the Moravia facility will result in water supply disruptions to several communities in Manchester and Clarendon.

The affected areas include Coleyville, Succeed, Bryce, Dump, Dobson, Line of Parish, Silent Hill, Ticky Ticky, Christiana, Spaldings, Chudleigh, Malton, Mollison, Devon, Farm, Richmond and Whiteshop.

The NWC says it is monitoring the plants and is also working with the police and the Jamaica Fire Brigade.

The commission says that once advised that it is safe, its maintenance teams will access both facilities to carry out an assessment.

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