Barnett: NWC aims to provide best possible supply despite months-long drought

President of the National Water Commission (NWC), Mark Barnett, is assuring the public that the entity is working assiduously to maintain piped water supply service to as many of its customers in Kingston and St Andrew (KSA) as possible for as long as possible each day despite the fact that: 

1. The specific watersheds serving the Hermitage Dam and the Mona Reservoir have been and continue to experience less than average normal rainfall for a protracted period. 
2. The two major storage facilities, Mona and Hermitage, continue to decline, with current storage levels of just over 30 per cent of their respective capacities, due to a whole year of below normal rainfall for KSA. 
3. Increased incidents of leaks developing within the network, which is directly related to the current intermittent service.  

“We have been able to deliver potable water supply for the greater part of this nine-month drought period without whole scale significant disruptions to customers. This was realised through the earlier investments, but more importantly, the dedicated efforts of our staff, whose effort is to ensure water is delivered through the pipes as scheduled,” Barnett said in a press release today.

As one example, Barnett pointed to the hard work of one team that worked five days straight, round the clock, in the hills of rural St Andrew to repair a precarious critical cross-country pipeline during last week.  

He empathised with all customers affected especially at this time when the new academic year commences and is assuring that the committed and hardworking staff will continue to work round the clock regulating and keeping the systems running; as well as trucking water to not only critical institutions but also to areas not able to be supplied by pipe.  

The NWC president made the commitment as the agency has been further forced to adjust its Mona Water Supply Schedule beginning today due to continuously dwindling inflows.  

At the strategic level, the NWC president pointed out that several water supply improvement projects have been recently implemented and others are underway to improve the resilience of the service.

These major works include:  

• Maximising benefits from the KSA Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Reduction Programme completed between 2016 and 2021; and the Spanish Town Road Pipeline Project completed earlier this year;  
• Expediting benefits of the Portmore NRW Programme now underway since 2021 and continuing to 2026;  
• Increased collaboration with GoJ for major infrastructure improvement along critical corridors, expanding the infrastructural capacity and inter-connectedness across the Corporate Area; and 
• Advances in preparation for an Islandwide NRW Programme and other improvement projects.

   The NWC president explained that extended below normal rainfall for more than one year means that even when there is an occasional shower, it has not been enough to reverse the months of little to no rainfall. 

"While the exact customer experience will vary depending on a number of factors, the aim of the NWC is to provide the best possible service under these difficult drought conditions with at least 80 per cent of customers being supplied for about 8-10 hours daily," Barnett noted.

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