Mayor calls on NWC for plan to address residents’ cry for water

WESTERN BUREAU

The Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) is to write to the National Water Commission (NWC), seeking information on its plans to address the impact of drought conditions for residents of Hanover, as despite the presence of several water sources in the parish, potable water is fast becoming a scarce commodity.

Mayor of Lucea Sheridan Samuels, who is also chairman of the HMC, expressed his disappointment in the response from the responsible agencies, and insisted that the situation needs serious attention.

“The parish of Hanover is presently experiencing severe drought conditions, and we are very concerned that this situation, if not controlled with proper mitigation measures, could devastate the local economy,” Samuels stated.

He described as very unfortunate, the fact that the parish of Hanover has so many river sources, and is now experiencing such a water shortage crisis.

“We (the HMC) are calling on the NWC to provide us (the HMC) with details of their short-term, medium-term and long-term plans to address this worsening situation,” he stated during a recent HMC meeting.

He said the HMC is in receipt of a limited amount of funding from the Ministry of Local Government, which will be used as best as possible, to deal with the trucking of water to affected areas. He noted too that the prime minister recently announced plans to provide an additional amount of funding to the various municipal corporations across the island, to supplement their funds for the trucking of water.

He noted that minor water supply systems across Hanover have been instrumental in meeting the water and distribution needs of the parish. He said there would be a comprehensive review of those systems to assess what improvements may be done to them to improve the level of service residents now receive from them.

“I can safely say that our suppliers (minor water network) that we are using now, are more effective than what the NWC is doing as it relates to providing potable water to homes,” he stated.Samuels made special reference to the Askenish area as among those which are being faithfully served by minor sources nearby.

“Without our minor water supply sources, the parish (of Hanover) would be more devastated,” he stated.The mayor noted further that the NWC is one of the government agencies which do not attend the regular monthly meetings of the HMC, and as such the HMC is never fully updated on its plans to address the many complaints from residents within the parish, through their elected local government councillors. He said that the members of parliament will also be contacted for their input in addressing the problem.