OVER THE last 15 years, pipes in Bois Content, St Catherine, have become much as the appendix in the human body - serving no real function - as the area has not had the luxury of tap water since the early 1990s.

The ever-noticeable feature of the traditional makeshift zinc and drum catchments or the oversize water tanks attached to almost every house in the community were testament to the water woes whipping the community of an estimated 3,000 residents.

"If the rain don't come, we have to buy water from a truck," said Paulette Jackson, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years. "We have been having the water problem for about 20 years. I can't remember the last time water came through my pipes."

Billed for no water

Frederick Bailey, another Bois Content resident, shared a similar experience.

Said he: "One of the most ironic things that is taking place in that section of the community is that we are still receiving water bills. My water bill now is over $80,000 if you add them all up."

Bailey disclosed that since building a water tank at his house in 1989, it has been his most reliable source of the life-giving fluid, depending mostly on rainfall to satisfy his home needs.

For others, it is not always easy finding money to offset a water budget that may exceed $3,000 per month, depending on the household's level of consumption. And on sizzling summer days, a $300 jug of water from the truck may disappear quickly.

These are the days when some in the community - led by donkey power instead of horsepower - head to a nearby spring to get their H²O supply. The donkey jockeys from Bois Content said it usually takes the animal three trips to the spring to fill up a single drum, but every journey is worth the time and energy.

Insufficient water source

Jackson said the National Water Commission (NWC) is not in the dark about the dilemma. She said that there was a time when Bois Content would receive water from pipes near the Bellas Gate side of the community.

"It used to come three times per week," she said. Those days are long gone, however, and the NWC is yet to quench residents' thirst.

When asked about the situation in the St Catherine community, senior public relations officer at the NWC, Karen Williams, said Bois Content is served by the Goldmine Treatment Plant and the Cocoa Ridge relift pump station. There has been insufficient water at the source that serves the treatment plant for some time.

She continued: "In addition, the facilities require some upgrading work and, as with similar rural projects, limited financing and payments do not allow for such works to be carried out without subsidised interventions."

Exorbitant costs

Williams further said the NWC is not always capable of financing these projects "at the often exorbitant costs from which the prospect for revenue collections is negligible".

The spokeswoman said that the upgrading work needed has, therefore, been referred to the Rural Water Supply Company (RRCo). She also advised customers who had concerns regarding their bills to contact the Spanish Town commercial office.

Several attempts to contact a representative by RRCo were unsuccessful.

marlon.vickerman@gleanerjm.com