Water woes in Westmoreland, councillors pleading for help

WESTERN BUREAU:

Councillors at the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC) are crying out for water on behalf of numerous residents, who are seemingly being neglected by the National Water Commissioner (NWC), as despite having a rich source of water in the Roaring River, their pipes are dry.

Dawnette Foster, the councillor for the Cornwall Mountain division, said the residents in her division are without a steady flow of potable water. She said the situation needs to be addressed urgently, and made a personal appeal to the NWC to take immediate action to remedy the situation.

“I think it is full time now that the people in Cornwall Mountain division get water. It has been about three to four months now that we have not had any water in the division,” said Foster, while speaking on the state of water in the parish at Thursday’s general monthly meeting of the WMC.

“I don’t think our problem is with the recent rainfalls. It is from 2016 that I have been here as the councillor and the situation has been the same,” added Foster.

Jeffrey Smith, regional manager for the NWC in Westmoreland and Hanover, admitted that many communities, to include communities in the Cornwall Mountain division, are not getting water in their pipes. He said the commission is experiencing some challenges due to turbidites in the Roaring River water supply systems, but said that plans are afoot to have water pumped into a tank in that division so that it can be distributed to residents.

Like Foster, her colleague councillors, Ian Myles, of the Little London division; and Deputy Mayor Danree Delancy, of the Bethel Town division, also lamented the absence of potable water in their divisions and joined in calling on the NWC to address the issue.

“For three consecutive months we have not seen a drop of water in our pipes,” said Myles, who said he is delighted to hear that the Bulstrode Water Supply System, which supplies water in some sections of his division, is now operating at 50 per cent of its capacity.

Operating at 50 per cent Capacity

“I am happy that Bulstrode is currently operating at 50 per cent capacity, but that 50 per cent is not sufficient for the Friendship and Grange Hill divisions, therefore, Little London, Sheffield and parts of Negril are still without water,” said Myles, who called on the NWC to devise a workable plan to meet the needs of all the citizens of Westmoreland.

In registering his disgust with the situation in his division, Delancy said he can’t help but marvel at the fact that, while his division is without water, the adjoining Cambridge division, which falls under the St James Municipal Corporation, is never out of water, although they are served from the same sources.

“I think I am being treated as a bastard child, Cambridge is hardly out of water and the Bethel Town division has no water,” lamented Delancy, who said he has no appetite to entertain any excuses, to include the claim of turbidity.

“Even Ray Charles can see that something is not right. I don’t buy the talks about turbidity because when there is no rain, Darliston, Whithorn and Mackfield get water, but our communities in Bethel Town don’t get any,” argued Delancy. “I am not buying it and the people of the Bethel Town division are not buying it either.”

In responding to Delancy’s claim, Smith said the NWC is looking at new methods to solve the problems, noting that, of the two water sources in Cambridge, only the spring source is working and is only operating at 20 per cent of capacity. He said the river source is currently blocked with debris and can’t be cleared until the rainy season is over.

“That 20 per cent is not sufficient; it would get lost in the pipes before reaching Bethel Town,” explained Smith.

Smith also noted that Little London and all areas leading into Negril are being addressed through what is known as the Negril Water Improvement Project, which will see water being routed from Roaring River to Negril.

“Everybody at this time cannot be served. We have a grave issue with water and we’re moving to apply different methods to solve the issues that have existed for many years,” added Smith.