Manchester residents travel miles for water
Published:Monday | April 27, 2020 | 12:05 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
ROSE DIXON travels eight miles daily from Coleyville to Chudleigh in Manchester to get water from a community standpipe.
It is an ordeal, she said, she would rather forego, except she cannot afford to, as it is the only way to get some of the precious commodity for the six members of her household.
“We have no choice but to come here for water because there is none in the community where I live. Worse, now that this virus is out and about. We need it to wash hands and clothes, and flush our toilets,” Dixon said.
The virus she refers to is the new coronavirus, which has infected hundreds of Jamaicans and killed at least seven persons here.
Last Thursday, she was helped by a friend, a farmer, who transported her 39 buckets in his pickup truck.
Not easy on us
He also lamented the lack of water, both from the heavens and from the National Water Commission (NWC) pipes. He told The Gleaner that the 20 bags of Irish potatoes he had planted have withered in the scorched field.
Dixon explained that without the kind gesture, she would have to pay $50 per bucket, and on each of those days, she fills nearly 40 buckets and bottles with water.
“Do the maths. It is not easy on us in these parts. Most days I have to find a minimum of $2,000 to pay for a taxi,” she said.
“The NWC pipes are dry. The sky only mek up for rain, then the clouds dissipate and poor people suffer. So since we cannot do anything about the rain, the Government should definitely try and do something about getting water into our pipes,” Dixon added.
Marlon Richards, who lives in Chudleigh, sympathises with Dixon. He said that the daily travel to the standpipe is not easy and so he understands Dixon’s plight.
“It cannot be easy for anyone to be travelling all over the place for a little water, worse in these times. So the authorities should try to fix this issue. It a go on for too long now,” he stated.
Garfield Gibson, a local farmer, described the drought in the parish as “worse than COVID-19”. All his crops, including a plot of land dedicated to carrots, have become victims of the dry weather.