NWC juggling to address drought conditions in Westmoreland
Published:Saturday | April 15, 2023 | 12:37 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Jeffery Smith, the western regional manager at the National Water Commission (NWC), says the ongoing drought conditions in Westmoreland have resulted in water levels at some of the parish’s major supply systems falling to as low as 60 per cent of capacity.
Smith said the situation has forced the NWC to temporarily cease operation at the plants at Jerusalem Mountain, Whitehall Phase Three, and Greenwich, Ducketts.
As a result, the NWC has had to be regulating the water supply in the parish.
“Westmoreland continues to be negatively impacted by the drought, although you may see rains in some places,” Smith said at the monthly meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC) on Thursday.
He said that the Logwood Treatment Plant, which serves a huge part of Westmoreland, has lost 60 per cent of its production.
“Thankfully, Roaring River, which is another major plant in Westmoreland, is still up to full capacity, as well as Bluefieds,” added Smith.
He told councillors that innovative methods are being employed to facilitate the provision of potable water in the midst of the meteorological drought now affecting the island.
“The Carawina source has lost 10 per cent of its production and Bulstrode Treatment Plant has also lost 10 per cent of its production. However, we were able to do a little bit of innovation, so our production at those two plants is still at 100 per cent, although the yield from the sources has dropped by 10 per cent each,” said Smith.
As a result of the sharp drop in production at the Logwood system, Smith said that the NWC has to be regulating its delivery of water to ensure that all communities in the area are served.
“We are regulating between White Hall and Mount Airy. We are supplying them every other day, as long as all things hold,” said Smith.
NWC customers along Norman Manley Boulevard in Negril, which is largely populated by hotels, are also experiencing water restrictions.
“For the beach road, West End, and Sheffield, we are regulating between them and other persons we serve on Mondays, Wednesdays, and on Fridays. We will close off the beach road, West End, and Sheffield areas at 10 p.m., and reopen the valve at 6 a.m.,” said Smith.
“We are also regulating between Bay Road and Broughton on Tuesday and Thursday, so persons on that side will be getting water during those days,” he added.
During the period of regulations, the communities of Little London, Bay Road, and Broughton are to be served via trucking, Smith said.
“We are trucking water to most of our clients, but it is very difficult because we have a lot of requests. We truck per request, but places like Bethel Town, Whitehall (Phase Three), we truck to those continuously, even if we don’t get requests.”