Delivery schedule for Rhyne Park unchanged, says NWC’s Canon

WESTERN BUREAU:

The National Water Commission [NWC] has rejected claims by Anthony Murray, councillor for the Rose Hall division in the St James Municipal Corporation [StJMC], that residents of Rhyne Park and surrounding communities often go without water supply for up to two months.

Murray complained about the utility’s inconsistency with service delivery in the communities that fall within his division during the StJMC’s monthly meeting on Thursday, November 10.

“Why is it that my paying customers from Barrett Town, Spot Valley, Rhyne Park, and Rosevale have been without water for two weeks, and in some cases two months? And why is it that when the water does come, the pressure is so low that only a fraction of the area is covered, and why is it that the common excuse is that the single phases are affected? There are some serious issues taking place, and as a customer, I have not been able to use the bathroom in my office for the last two months, and I am on the main line,” Murray told the meeting.

But in an email response to The Gleaner on Tuesday, the NWC’s Corporate Communications Manager Andrew Canon insisted that the Rhyne Park area is supplied with water five days a week.

FIVE DAYS WATER SUPPLY

“The Rhyne Park community gets water five days per week, Monday and Fridays being the exception when water is regulated to adjoining communities. The schedule has not changed, even since the Edmund Ridge development came on stream recently,” said Canon.

“The supply to the community is being adversely impacted by the intermittent power supply, single phase, particularly at Rhyne Park Relift #2. There are publicised pictures of overgrown vegetation on the utility line which may be deduced as a factor for the concern,” he added. “In some instances trucking [of water] is done. However, owing to the frequency and terrain of the area, it is just not practical for it to be sustained and be meaningful. Please note that the higher elevated areas are the most impacted.”

Complaints were also made in April this year about the lack of consistent water supply in the Rhyne Park area, an issue which has been ongoing from as far back as 2013.

Other communities in St James, to include Orange, Herlock, and Irwin, were likewise affected by inconsistent water supply in 2014. At that time, the issue prompted St James East Central’s Member of Parliament Edmund Bartlett to call on the Ministry of Land, Water and Housing to provide adequate water supply to the constituency.

Mark McGann, the StJMC’s councillor for the Somerton division, also blasted the NWC during the StJMC’s meeting for reportedly refusing to truck water to locations that are on the utility’s main line and for issuing a removal notice of standpipes in his division without consulting him.

“During COVID-19 time, the municipal corporation had set out to put in place what we call water-shops, and these were provided to enhance lives where water was not available through the distribution system. But the NWC saw it fit to put a memorandum of understanding, saying that they would not allow water from the pumps to be trucked into these areas because these are areas supplied by the distribution lines,” McGann told the meeting.

“The citizens are claiming and alleging that what was said was that the councillor sent them a list of standpipes to be disconnected. You have situations like that where the water is not present and you are not able to supply it, and you decide to sully your partner in this? Because no discussion was held with me, so I am upset today and the citizens are upset,” McGann added. “I sought to have a conversation with the management as I wanted the NWC to come and clarify to the citizens what it is that they are doing, if they are disconnecting because of non-payment or if there is something else afoot, and they have refused.”

The Gleaner sought a response from the NWC in relation to McGann’s claims. However, Canon did not address them.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com