Pondside residents restive over water woes

Although the residents of Pondside in Yallahs, St Thomas, have grown accustomed to years of intermittent water supply, the now empty taps that they have been having for the last three months have caused them to become restive and enraged.

Shirley Burke, a homeowner in the area, explained that in the past, at two and three o’clock in the mornings, the water flow in the pipes would be heavy enough for the residents to be able to fill their drums and tanks, but things have changed for the worse.

“We have the problem for years, but now and again you get a little water in the pipe; and you have to use the low pipe and get some. But now ... nothing at all,” she said.

Burke complained how difficult it was to keep her six-person household clean, and said she was unable to take showers to cool down during the summer heat.

“See like how is summer now and you could a need a nice cool down (shower), now you can’t get it,” she said, during an interview with The Gleaner last Friday.

Burke explained that she has had to spend $10,000 to fill two tanks on her property, but this lasts for only two weeks at a time.

For those who lack the financial means to purchase water to refill drums and tanks, they have had to resort to chartering taxi at a cost of $1,500 to deliver their water bottles ranging in size from five litres to five gallons.

Eric Campbell, a local who rears goats, pigs and chickens, is one such person.

He, too, bemoaned how difficult it has been for him to tend to his livestock, because his business depends on water availability to clean and prepare the meats and poultry he sells.

“It bad ‘round ya, man. It bad, and we don’t know who fi talk to ... we cah live so, man,” he argued.

Some residents believe that the problem is the result of nearby road construction connected to the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project.

Their assumptions were indeed accurate, as according to Andrew Canon, corporate communications manager at the National Water Commission (NWC), a part of the pipeline was damaged as a result of the continuing roadworks.

He noted, however, that repairs were subsequently done to the pipeline, but that the NWC found that some customers were still without water.

“We returned to the area on Friday and saw that there were no additional leaks, but the pressure is significantly low,” he said.

Nonetheless, Canon assures locals that the team will continue to do further network inspections in order to identify and address the problem.

In a follow-up interview with The Gleaner on Tuesday, Campbell revealed that the community members have grown restless and that they intended to block the main road.

“We a go block the road, man, because some ting haffi be done,” he said.