Digital Water Meters To Be Installed In Several Portmore Communities

A total of 20,000 new state-of-the-art digital meters are to be installed in several communities in Portmore, St. Catherine, as the Government seeks to improve service delivery and reduce losses from non-revenue water in the area.

The meters will be implemented as part of the US$13-million Portmore Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Reduction Programme, which aims to reduce initial water losses from 60 per cent to 30 per cent in five years, while ensuring a steady supply of potable water to the citizens of Portmore.

This was disclosed by Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, who noted that these meters are accurate “and should be embraced by the customers as the bridge between them and the National Water Commission (NWC)”.

“This improved service delivery will benefit residents in various sections of the Municipality, including areas such as Naggo Head, Portmore Lane, Reeds Pen, Old Braeton… [and] Newlands,” he said.

The Minister was addressing a staff-recognition ceremony for the teams involved in the Portmore NRW Reduction Programme, at the Miya Water Jamaica office, in Portmore, on Thursday (April 21).

Mr. Samuda noted that the NRW programme will be even more crucial as the Municipality achieves parish status, noting that Portmore will be the first parish where every resident will be connected to water systems and has potable water.

“The Government of Jamaica recognises the need for consistent and reliable water supply in Portmore, and the reduction of NRW is part and parcel of the process that will facilitate economic and social development in the Municipality, while allowing the NWC to utilise its production capacity savings to bring new customers online,” he said.

Mr. Samuda pointed out that in this implementation phase of the project, which will last three years, activities will entail rapid pump repairs, pressure management control the search for non-visible leaks, the metering of unserved areas, and replacing defective meters.

In the meantime, Minister Samuda praised the excellent work of the 26 honourees who comprised the best leak repair team, the best leak detection team and the best metering team under the NRW programme.

The NWC, in 2015, partnered with Miya, a global water efficiency company to implement the NRW Reduction Programme in Kingston and St. Andrew (KSA). After six years under the project, NRW in KSA was reduced from over 60 per cent to under 40 per cent, which resulted in savings amounting to more than 50,000 cubic meters of water per day. The programme was recently launched in Portmore.

The overall NRW programme is being implemented to create a sustainable future for the NWC with the objective of improving financial and operational efficiency within the company.