Negril’s thirst

WESTERN BUREAU:

The fates of some planned multibillion-dollar developments in Negril hang in the balance as the town grapples with a longstanding water crisis that anxious business owners and residents wait eagerly to see if recently unveiled government initiatives will alleviate.

The convergence of the dry season and the winter tourist influx presents a formidable challenge for the town: ensuring a sufficient water supply to meet the needs of both businesses and residents at a time when resources are scarce and demand is at its peak.

One weather expert is projecting that the drought conditions, especially across the western region, could intensify over the coming months, and significantly impact the already-insufficient water sources in the tourism-dependent corridor.

“We found out that the western part of the island is dryer than usual, and to add to it, we are having increased temperatures, where April of this year was the warmest ever,” said Rohan Brown, senior meteorologist at the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, as he addressed a recent stakeholders’ meeting on water resilience in western Jamaica. “So the trends are showing that we are having a warming of the climate.”

The self-styled ‘Capital of Casual’, Negril pulls adventure seekers and the daring from across the globe annually and boasts a rich collection of hotel accommodations and tourism-dependent businesses. Hoteliers and supporting businesses have had to bear increased expenses in recent months trucking water to keep their operations going.

Data from the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (Negril chapter) suggests that more than $200 million more was spent to purchase water from independent suppliers.

Recently, the Logwood Treatment plant, from where the commodity is distributed along the popular tourism corridor, was estimated to be at half of its capacity, forcing the National Water Commission (NWC) to regulate the dwindling supply.

Logwood produces 6.5 million gallons a day with good rainfall.

“The demand is going to be seven million gallons a day for Logwood and 15 million gallons in 2030,” stated David Pryce, acting parish manager for Hanover and Westmoreland at the NWC. “At present, what we are seeing is three million [gallons] a day ... . So 2030, based on what Logwood is doing now, we don’t expect to get any more.”

The Fish River, which is one of the intakes used to service Logwood is at “zero”, Pryce said at the stakeholders’ meeting a few weeks ago. It is not yet determined whether the situation has improved with recent rainfall.

“We are not seeing any feasible supply within the Logwood/Negril zone that can augment what is happening, so it requires that we have to import water from elsewhere,” he said.

Savanna-la-Mar Mayor Danree Delancy stressed that the local authority would be more strident in its approval process for projects that will rely on a consistent water supply to satisfy their everyday needs.

“I don’t want to stand in the way of development, but I am wondering, would it make sense for us to approve these large developments at this time without knowing where the water is coming from?” asked Delancy, who chairs the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation.

He revealed that there were some multibillion-dollar projects proposed for Negril that are of concern.

“I am going to have a dialogue with our counterparts at the Negril and Green Island Area Local Planning Authority and our counterparts at the National Environment and Planning Agency to look seriously about approving large development plans for that area,” the mayor said.

“It makes no sense for us to grant approval and then developers come here with their money to invest and then having put up all these structures they cannot operate because there is no water,” he added.

Gail Jackson, managing director and owner of Negril Treehouse, a 70-room facility along Norman Manley Boulevard, was of a similar mind as she questioned the priorities of successive administrations to approve water-dependent projects without addressing the longstanding infrastructural issues.

“We love investment, but I think before we approve swim-up suites and 5,000-room hotels, we need to look at the infrastructure,” she argued. “Do we have enough capacity to do that? Well, the answer 10 years ago was no, but we continue to approve swim-up suites [and] mega pools, and we shouldn’t.”

“Infrastructure should be number one. Our roads and water supply are in a bad state – so we have been putting the cart before the horse,” Jackson told The Sunday Gleaner while suggesting a national water-harvesting programme.

“How do we approve swim-up suites and we don’t have water for the people that are serving those folks?” she asked.

In 2017, Dr Richard Meggoe, then NWC regional water supply and distribution manager, warned hoteliers that the agency was losing the battle to supply the Negril resort with potable water, given the rapid growth of development.

He sounded the alarm that the expansion of the water supply system was not keeping pace with the massive housing and hotel developments taking place in the town, indicating that Negril would have a carrying capacity issue as the Logwood system was severely stressed.

“The unique situation of Negril is that Jamaica’s dry season coincides with the tourist season. We know that tourism utilises anywhere between four to 10 times the water that the locals would use, so it is really a water-intensive industry,” he noted.

Senator Matthew Samuda, the minister with responsibility for water, is confident that current rehabilitation work will realise an additional one million gallons of water for Negril.

“The pipelines by themselves will not do it, but the pipelines are the major elements that we are able to fix right now,” Samuda said while bemoaning the lack of investment for the past 40 years.“So it will have a major impact on current development and facilitate increased use.”

Prime Minister Andrew Holness recently announced a Western Water Resilience Programme that will see an expansion of the infrastructure to improve supply to the area.

The project is being done under emergency procurement, with the pre-engineering phase at startup costing $32 million.

The second phase, which is now underway, includes a $24.8-billion pipeline installation and replacement initiative.

Former Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill, who served as a member of parliament for Western Westmoreland, believes that the refusal of successive governments to follow through on projects by previous administrations is the main reason for the crisis being faced by his former constituents.

He claimed that there was a joint venture project being discussed between the NWC and an overseas company to develop the Roaring River system, during his time, but it was aborted without explanation.

However, a source at the NWC, while not confirming McNeill’s claim, told The Sunday Gleaner that numerous exploratory discussions have been held about expansions to the Roaring River Water Treatment Plant, but noted that those talks did not yield tangible results for various reasons, including funding and engineering concerns.

“Nonetheless, as part of its long-term strategy to improve water supply in Western Jamaica, the NWC will construct a new water treatment plant in Roaring River, Westmoreland,” the source revealed. “Furthermore, this state-of-the-art water treatment plant will be fortified with renewable solutions to effectively mitigate the impact of climate change.”

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com