Roll Out of Black Tanks to Commence Next Week

The distribution of black tanks to promote water harvesting in rural communities will commence next week, as the pilot of the Rural Water Household Resilience programme gets underway.

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, made the disclosure in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (Oct. 31).

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has provided grant funding of $60 million for the purchase of the tanks.

“The Government is partnering with the IDB to distribute and install 3,000, 400-gallon tanks with supporting infrastructure for rainwater harvesting in the constituencies that were hardest hit by the drought in the first six months of this year,” he noted.

He indicated that the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, through Rural Water Supply Limited, will provide funding of $250 million to facilitate coordination of the project and the deployment of water harvesting systems and tanks.

Mr. Holness, who tabled a National Water Resources Master Plan for Jamaica and the Rainwater Harvesting Guidelines, informed that the constituencies that will participate in the pilot programme are predominantly in the eastern part of the country.

These include St. Andrew East and West Rural; St. Thomas Eastern and Western; Portland Eastern and Western; St. Mary Southeast, Central and Western; the southern belt of St Ann including the southeast and southwest sections; and the hilly northern belt of Clarendon, including the northern, north central, and north west sections of the parish.

“It is important to note, Mr. Speaker, that these tanks will be distributed in areas, which are outside of the utility footprint of the National Water Commission (NWC) or in an area where infrastructure is significantly degraded and unable to provide predictable supply,” the Prime Minister said.

He further noted that Members of Parliament (MPs) in the selected constituencies have submitted 230 names each for recipients of the tanks.

The roll out of the rainwater harvesting systems and tanks next week will be led by Rural Water Supply teams and the social review committee, and the Prime Minister has assured that the same oversight process as the New Social Housing Programme will be used in assessing the recommendations.

“Each location that a tank is installed will be mapped and geotagged to ensure accountability, but also to ensure we start the process of properly assessing our true national storage capacity for water,” he said.

Another important element of the project involves training, he indicated, informing that each MP has identified 10 young persons, who will be taught to do the installations by the HEART/NSTA Trust and will receive a stipend for their work during the project.

The Prime Minister said that the pilot is expected to be completed by the end of December.

“Once it is completed, we will move to expand the programme nationally to include all rural constituencies,” he added.

The distribution of black tanks across Jamaica will serve to ensure water resilience at the household level.