THE EDITOR, Sir:THE NATIONAL Water Commission is to respond to a letter to the Editor published over the name of Michelle Tomlinson of Hopedale in St. Catherine that alleges that the area has "had no water for the past five months".
Firstly, the NWC regrets any disruption in service to any of its valued customers, for whatever reason. However, please be advised that it is not correct that Hopedale has had no water for the last five months. This can be confirmed not only from NWC records but also from residents. For the last six weeks the Spanish Town Water Treatment Plant has not been able to operate for any extended period of time because of the extremely turbid condition of the Rio Cobre river from which the water is drawn.
Essentially, whenever the Rio Cobre becomes too muddy and too heavily laden with silt, operations at the Spanish Town Treatment Plant have to be suspended since treatment to potable standards is not possible. With the onset of the September-October rains and the apparently worsening degradation of the watershed areas, the river water becomes unusable after almost every rainfall.
As a result of the Spanish Town Treatment Plant being out of effective operation all the areas normally served by this treatment plant have to be supplied from alternative systems. However, based on the water demand, location on the system and elevation, communities such as Hopedale, Willodene and sections of Hampton Green cannot be supplied from the alternative arrangements. They are therefore supplied with trucked water through the Rapid Response Unit three times weekly.
Additionally, please note that the water bills received to date are most likely for water supplied before this period of disruption and therefore have no bearing on the disruption.
While the National Water Commission is actively working at improving its treatment and distribution capacity in Spanish Town under the Kingston Metropolitan Area Water Supply and Rehabilitation Project and other initiatives, it is to be noted that environmental issues such as deforestation, soil erosion and siltation must be urgently addressed if the NWC's efforts are not to be impeded.
We are etc.,
National Water Commission
CHARLES BUCHANAN
Corporate Public
Relations Manager
