Portland among parishes experiencing water shortage

The National Water Commission (NWC) has noted that although Portland is not experiencing severe drought conditions in comparison to other parishes, it is still on the list of the most troubling, with severe reduction in water supply.

"Portland overall is not under drought, but we had one particular system that is a little out of the norm that has shown some significant reductions," stated Charles Buchanan, communications manager at the NWC.

He also said parishes such as St James, Hanover and Westmoreland were experiencing some challenges with a few of their water systems. However, overall there has been significant improvement in the agency's ability to supply water to customers in comparison to the two previous years.

"Compared to perhaps the last two years, we are doing pretty well this year. However, that is because we are comparing against two extremely difficult years. So when compared with our long-term average rainfall for this time of year, over the 30-year average, it indicates that we have received below-normal rainfall in most of the parishes in the last two months," Buchanan said.

"We are definitely hopeful that we will be able to see anything near normal rainfall as we go forward, so that we will be able to sustain supply to our customers. Sometimes we end up getting some rain but maybe somewhere where it is not needed as badly, and so people may say that rain fell, but it actually fell in the parish where it was least needed. So we are grateful for the rain, but we also need it in the appropriate quantities in the right places."