Mayor urges action on water crisis in Negril ahead of tourist season
Published:Friday | October 11, 2024 | 12:09 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Savanna-la-Mar Mayor Danree Delancy yesterday raised fresh concerns about a water shortage in tourist hub Negril and the wider Westmoreland, urging the Government to get cracking on a plan to address the crisis.
Speaking at the monthly meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC), Delancy called on the Government to fulfil its promise to provide a sustainable water supply for Negril and the other affected areas in the parish as soon as possible.
“I am very much worried for the hoteliers. I am also worried about Jamaica’s image as a tourist destination, particularly Negril; that may suffer damage in the short run,” the mayor said.
He noted that while the country is in the traditional rainy season, many communities are still without water, a cause for concern, he said, as Negril experienced a similar situation last year.
“Investors, including restaurants, hotel operators, other businesspeople, and residents, are now having a real water crisis, and the Government’s plans to correct the problem are yet to come on stream,” Delancy lamented. “We heard a lot of announcements and pronouncements from the Government in regard to plans to alleviate the situation, but to date, nothing has been done to solve the problem.”
With the start of the busy tourist winter season just two months away, Delancy, who is also the councillor for the Bethel Town division, believes that unless something is done urgently, the water crisis could worsen.
PROJECT SPECIFICS
Amid outcry earlier this year, the Government announced in May that a $24.8-billion water-resilience project would be executed under emergency procurement to relieve the water woes in Negril and western parishes.
The first phase of this programme was to involve the installation and replacement of two main transmission pipelines from the Martha Brae Water Treatment Plant in Trelawny to the Terminal Reservoir in St James and from Great River Water Treatment Plant in St James to Negril in Westmoreland.
The Government said the pre-engineering phase had commenced at a cost of $32 million and would last for six weeks before the full project rollout. It was estimated that the project would bring an additional one million gallons of water per day for Negril.
On Thursday, Arthel Colley, councillor for the Negril division, accused the Government and the National Water Commission (NWC) of tricking the people of Negril when they promised to improve the water supply to the township.
“In the West End area, they showed the people that they were putting in new and larger pipelines, and they did about three chains and then removed the rest of the pipes back to the National Water Commission office,” Colley told the WMC meeting. “They did that to fool the people of Negril that they are doing something about the water supply.”
LONG JOURNEY
He blasted the NWC for what he said was their poor communication with customers, saying that he was told by senior managers recently that fixing the water crisis in Negril and adjoining communities would be a very long journey.
“I was left in a state of shock when I learned from NWC personnel that they are currently supplying 66 per cent of the requirement of water for Negril,” said Colley. “I was told that Negril, based on what is happening at the Logwood Treatment Plant, no matter the rain that you see falling, if they continue to give Negril 100 per cent of their water supply, when the dry period comes up, they are going to be in more problems.”
Elaine Allen-Bradley, who heads the Negril Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told The Gleaner that while accommodation bookings are taking place for the upcoming winter tourist season, there could be cancellations if the water crisis is not addressed.
“People are booking and are asking, ‘Will we have water?’, so that means when they are asking that, soon they will say, ‘I will cancel’,” said Allen-Bradley.