As water wastes away, a St Thomas district thirsts

The community of Cheswick in eastern St Thomas has been contending with erratic water supply for decades.

When Diane Wilson was 16 years old, she recalled having to make numerous trips, with a bucket of water atop her head, to and from her home located up a steep slope commonly known as Hill 60.

That’s because the only source of running water in the neighbourhood was at a standpipe on the flat.

Even though Wilson is now 57 and no longer needs to continue that tradition, her five-person household remains without running water though she has three bathrooms.

On Tuesday, Wilson was seen filling up a sizable collection of buckets, 55-gallon water drums, and containers with capacities between five and 20 litres.

She said that the supply could only last a short while because the water is used for bathing, washing clothes, and for cooking meals.

“Mi have to catch water and bathe and have to full water fi flush toilet. Dem something deh no right,” she lamented.

She went on to say that the water would only come into the standpipes twice every two weeks and would not be available throughout the entire day.

Additionally, Wilson has not been able to get her two 500-gallon water tanks filled. As a result of the lack of prolonged rainfall and strong gusts, one of her tanks was blown off the roof, resulting in damage.

Making matters worse, a faulty water pump on the main tank that supplies water to Hill 60 residents, as well as other impacted areas such as Brown Man Hill and Brenton Hill, causes extreme distress. Those other hill dwellers are also unable to get water from the tank simultaneously.

As a result, the majority of the water is retained in the tank and overflows at times, causing wastage.

Additionally, the tank is desperately in need of repair as it is filled with holes.

“It supposed to fix; it nuh suppose to a run over so ... . Weh the Water Commission dem a do? Weh the councillor a do? Weh the MP a do?” a highly upset resident said.

Fifty-three-year-old Hope Wilson, who has spent her entire life in the community, was most upset by the frequent lock-offs.

CONCERN FOR CHILDREN

Some parents have expressed concerns that their children may not be able to go to school come September if they are without the commodity.

“Sometimes we have to set up until hours a night fi ketch little water, if the water do come, just fi dem can tidy a mawning,” she added.

On Tuesday, Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government and rural development, St Thomas Eastern Member of Parliament Dr Michelle Charles, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, and the state-owned Rural Water Supply Limited toured the district.

Wilson stated that she had no faith in the likelihood of a resolution, adding that “promises was a comfort to a fool”.

But in addressing journalists at the end of the tour, McKenzie sought to give the assurance that he would deliver on his pledge.

“This is not a Government of promises. This is a Government of fulfilling the commitments we have given to the Jamaican people,” McKenzie said.

State Minister Homer Davis, MP Charles, and other key stakeholders toured the district last year.

The slated development is to come under the $650-million Rural Development Programme, a local-government initiative launched in 2021 with the goal of improving and transforming lives and maintaining the economic security of rural communities.

McKenzie stated that Rural Water Supply Limited would collaborate with the National Water Commission to examine methods to enhance the community’s water-delivery system.

“For the time being, I have given instructions to the mayor and to the municipality and the councillor that funds will be provided to truck water if there is a need for the trucking of water to the community to provide water on a daily basis,” the local government minister said.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com