Residents of the Old Braeton and Reeds Pen communities in St Catherine are now without their regular water supply following a disconnection drive carried out by the National Water Commission (NWC) on Thursday.The NWC says more than 90 per cent of consumers in those communities have either been illegally connected or had their accounts in arrears.
Charles Buchanan, corporate public relations manager at the NWC, told The Gleaner yesterday that it was highly unlikely that there were any customers in Old Braeton whose accounts were up to date.
"In 2007, of the 246 customer accounts, 175 made no payments at all for the whole year," he said. "The best payment history was from three customers who made only eight of 12 payments during that year. Hence, even best-paying customers would still be in arrears," added Buchanan.
steady payments
But at least one customer in Old Braeton has rebuffed the NWC's claims. A customer, who spoke to The Gleaner on condition of anonymity, said she had been making steady payments to the NWC and at present she owed the company nothing.
"The NWC needs to do some better research because I can clearly say that I have not missed a month's payment," she said.
Buchanan, however, said the problem of delinquency is so extreme that it now makes it impossible to sustain service to the area.
"The basic position is that there is no way the NWC can provide service to those good persons, few as they are, and not have those other illegal or delinquent persons hijack the system," said Buchanan.