Gov’t. First Year Review: Water Ministry Focussed on Access to Safe Water

The visions of providing access to safe water for all Jamaicans by 2015 and affordable, safe and, legal housing by 2025, energised the Ministry of Water and Housing during the past year.
The visions of the Ministry coincide with its roles and responsibilities, which include the provision of potable water to all users, the provision of proper sewage facilities and related services, and the facilitation of affordable housing solutions to Jamaicans.
Among the agencies operating under the purview of the Water portfolio are the National Water Commission, Rural Water Supply Limited, and the Water Resources Authority.
From the start, the Ministry began focussing on improving domestic water supply, upgrading sewage systems, and assisting with the provision of shelter for persons who were affected by the onslaught of Hurricane Dean in August 2007.
In November, just weeks into the life of the new administration, Dr. Chang, announced that the Government would be undertaking a major overhaul of sewage lines in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA) and some parts of St. Catherine. He said that the first phase of this operation would take place after the commissioning of the Soapberry Wastewater Treatment Plant in January 2008.
February saw the Ministry, in consultation with the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, identifying funds to begin additional trucking of water to areas in rural Jamaica, that were experiencing drought, and which were in critical need.
Dr. Chang, who spoke of the initiative in a statement to the House of Representatives on February 19, said that the trucking of water by the Rapid Response Unit, would begin in the week of February 25, and would include the use of private contractors, “as we do not have enough elements of the Rapid Response fleet active.”
A contract signing and ground-breaking ceremony for the Fruitful Vale Water Supply System in Portland was held on April 30, at the Fruitful Vale All-Age School. Minister of State, Everald Warmington, who signed the contract, reiterated Government’s commitment to ensure that safe drinking water is available to all communities in the shortest possible time.
He said this commitment is in keeping with the United Nations Millennium Development Goal, of providing safe drinking water to all people by the year 2015.
In May 2008, ground was broken for the completion of works on the Cascade Water Supply Scheme in St. Ann, by State Minister Warmington. In his address, the State Minister reiterated the Ministry’s commitment to provide water to communities across the length and breadth of Jamaica.
He pointed out that two contracts were tendered for the works on the Cascade scheme, one valued at $3.2 million for the laying of additional pipelines to link the treatment facility to the transmission pipelines; and the other worth $9.4 million, to complete work on the water treatment plant.
Infrastructure upgrading is one of the plans that were implemented during the period since September 2007. The Ministry has well advanced plans to establish a multi-agency programme, to upgrade the rundown infrastructure in the inner-cities with special emphasis on roads, water supply, sanitation, electricity, and neighbourhood sporting facilities.
The Ministry and its agencies have started the process of assessing available water resources in Jamaica’s hydrological basins, to identify future water projects to and anticipated water needs. The process will also identify small water sources in rural areas that can sustain localised water harvesting and distribution.
As the Ministry of Water and Housing, moves towards its goal of potable water for all by 2015, new water supply projects are being identified. The plan is to implement these new projects, prioritised on the basis of areas of greatest need. Increased storage capacity will also be provided in major urban centres, to sustain supplies during periods of low inflows.
A part of the plan, is to develop special Rural Water Supply Programmes to harness small streams, rivers, and springs to supply isolated communities and to establish desalination plants in coastal areas, from which communities without alternative sources can be served.
Water conservation and management are integral to the Ministry’s decision to carry out an intensive and ongoing programme of leak detection and repair, to reduce pipeline losses. The Government is also looking at removing duties on water-saving devices to encourage more efficient use of water, while at the same time, ensuring careful management of water resources to reduce pollution and protect aquifer levels.
Meanwhile, the Ministry continues to encourage more efficient use of irrigation water through the application of appropriate technologies. There are plans to augment irrigation water sources, with high level treated effluent from the Soapberry treatment facility.
The plan also, is to extend sewage collection. This will be done by extending central sewerage collection and treatment services in major urban centres, with high population densities in order to protect water sources and coastal waters.