$48b leak

With 50 per cent of disconnected water supplies restored illegally, the National Water Commission (NWC) has become increasingly concerned about theft and its impact on revenues.

Monthly, illegal connections amount to $3.5 billion to $4 billion in losses, while electricity theft, which is among the NWC’s biggest supply costs, accounts for $550 million to $725 million per month.

Therefore, the income lost monthly from theft could pay the NWC’s energy bill at least four times.

The NWC supplies 190 million gallons of potable water each day to its more than 400,000 registered customers.

During a virtual public education forum on Wednesday, NWC Corporate Public Relations Manager Andrew Canon described customers and non-customers engaged in water theft as “ingenious”.

“It is an offence for customers and individuals to wilfully engage in any activity that is designed to deny the NWC of revenue from its services. Water theft reduces the flow of the pressure to our paying customers and communities. Persons who steal water, they have no regard for those being affected,” Canon said.

He appealed to Jamaicans to become registered customers and commit to paying their bills on time and in full.

Regional manager for Manchester and St Elizabeth, Jermaine Jackson, outlined some of the simple to technical ways Jamaicans have illegally tapped into the NWC’s supply.

Jackson shared that on high-pressure mains, people have used liners from truck tyres to wrap pipes.

“Whenever they bore the pipes, that 400 psi [pounds per square inch] comes right back down to about 10 psi, which they can control. You will never see that water spraying in the air,” Jackson revealed.

In sections of St Elizabeth and Manchester, Jackson has observed dual theft from the NWC and the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS).

“The electrical cable is placed in the pipe, the throw-up is on the JPS line and the illegal connection to the pipe is in our pipeline,” said Jackson.

“At times when the plumbers are out there doing the disconnections, workers complain of getting electrical shocks.”

Further, he said these activities present a double whammy for the utility company: loss of water and loss in revenue.

Another cost incurred by the NWC is for trucking when main lines are damaged from illegal activities.

At present, receivables stand at $43 billion, of which $32 billion has been owed for more than a year.

Receivables Manager Raymond Nesbeth said that chronic non-payment of bills affected the NWC’s bankability, budgeting, revenue growth forecast, and the delivery of service to compliant customers.

“Water that is produced and distributed, but for which no money is collected, results in a deficit. When the revenue goes uncollected, the production expenses cannot be reconciled,” said Nesbeth.

The NWC carries out weekly disconnection drives across the island.

For the period January to April 2021, the NWC targeted more than 21,700 accounts for disconnection, which valued $2.26 billion.

Of that number, 17,862 customers were disconnected and more than half of those customers, or 9,349, were reconnected, representing $500 million collected.

judana.murphy@gleanerjm.com