$21 Million Orangefield Water Supply Project Nears Completion

The Jericho/Orangefield/National Water Commission (NWC) Water Supply Improvement project in North St. Catherine is nearing completion.
Speaking with JIS News, Divisional Engineer for the Eastern division of the NWC, O’Neil Shand informed that all the technical aspects of the project except for a few minor details have been completed. More than 6,000 persons will benefit.
In May ground was broken by Housing, Transport, Water and Works Minister Robert Pickersgill in Orangefield Square for the $21 million water supply upgrading project, which pumps water from the Jericho Pumping Station to the Orangefield Water storage tank, some three kilometres away. The tank has a storage capacity of 10,000 gallons.
The project, which is being executed in two phases, became necessary because the existing supply lines were old and the demand on the system had increased dramatically, Mr. Shand said.
He further informed that “so far we have laid 3.2 kilometres of six-inch Ductile Iron Pipe from the Jericho Pumping Station to the Orangefield storage tank. We have also installed the necessary additional network on the system, rehabilitated the Orangefield storage tank and have done a significant amount of work to improve the pipeline distribution network”. The contractor for the project is Bacchus Engineering works.
In addition, a customer survey of the area was concluded and accounts are being regularized.