ST. MARY:
THE National Water Commission (NWC) in St. Mary is conducting a disconnection and collection drive in the sea coast town of Annotto Bay in the parish as many customers have fallen into a state of delinquency. This drive commenced on Tuesday, April 13, and is slated to cease at the end of the month if the attempt proves to be successful. Otherwise, it will continue until the entire area is covered.
Mrs. Phillipa Campbell-Francis, NWC acting customer relations manager for St. Mary and Portland, said because of the reduction of bill payments in the area, the Water Commission has an outstanding receivable balance of $37 million. This is due to the negligence of its customers and also to persons in possession of illegal water connection. "Most people in Annotto Bay believe that water should be free," she said, "also many persons have illegal water supplies." However, due to the presence of the police, who have collaborated with NWC to carry out the drive, citizens of the town have shown some level of co-operation. "We're collecting something from the area now which we could not have done before," Mrs. Francis said.
NUMBER OF EXERCISES
Prior to the disconnection and collection drive in the parish a number of exercises was conducted in the area to encourage customers to play their part in paying the NWC for its services.
Mrs. Stephanie Fullerton-Cooper, NWC community relations officer, said the company had undergone a one-week pay-up announcement drive and had previously made house-to-house visits to discuss individual accounts with persons but the response was far less than satisfactory. She said the NWC had done customer surveys, and had held a community meeting two years ago and had actually granted customers 80-100 per cent 'write offs', based on their inability to pay.
Concerning citizens who have procured illegal water supply the NWC encourages them to make their current connections legal. "We found (during surveys) a number of illegal connections which we have asked persons to regularise," said Mrs. Fullerton-Cooper.
Despite the efforts of the NWC the problem of the non-payment of bills by delinquent customers persists. Nonetheless, the company intends to conduct similar operations in the surrounding areas of Enfield, Dover, Fort George, Epsom and Friendship as soon as the drive is completed in Annotto Bay.
