Water Resources Authority Urging Water Conservation, Anti-Pollution Practices

The Water Resources Authority (WRA) is urging Jamaicans to play their part in safeguarding the country’s freshwater resources by practising water conservation and anti-pollution habits.

Speaking with JIS News, Senior Hydrologist with responsibility for resource monitoring and data collection at the WRA, Kevin Chambers, said that water conservation is critical given the finite nature of the resource.

“There’s a vast amount of water, but only a small portion is readily available for human consumption and other uses. As with any natural resource, to ensure that we benefit fully for future supply, it is important that each of us, every single Jamaican, be conservative in how we use water,” he said.

“The message is always…when we have critical drought [that] we are not to wash our car with potable water and we’re not to water our gardens because we do produce quite a bit of greywater that can be reused. As much as we want our cars to be clean, you have to be mindful that this is a finite resource,” Mr. Chambers pointed out.

He noted that pollution also threatens Jamaica’s freshwater resources, particularly the country’s springs.

“Here in Jamaica, we get a lot of our fresh water from springs and rivers and streams. There are hundreds of small water supply systems so it’s very important that by our actions, whether it is individuals, groups or companies, that we do not pollute the streams,” Mr. Chambers appealed.

“It is also important that industries treat and dispose of their trade effluent properly so as not to negatively impact groundwater. We…have a lot of wells that the National Water Commission uses as sources to provide potable water,” he pointed out.

Water conservation and anti-pollution practices are especially critical given the ongoing global climate crisis.

“According to climate scientists, we are expected, if we continue on this trajectory that we are on, to have reduced volumes of fresh water available over the next 50 to 80 years. So, it is even more urgent that each and every one of us in Jamaica do our part to ensure its sustainability,” Mr. Chambers stressed.