Gov’t Spending $150m to Truck Water to Drought-Affected Communities

The Government will be spending $150 million, approved by Cabinet, to truck water to communities most impacted by drought.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Matthew Samuda, said $40 million of the sum will be allocated immediately.

He advised that the beneficiary parishes are Manchester, Westmoreland, Clarendon, St. Elizabeth, and Portland Eastern and St. Thomas Eastern, adding that the trucking programme will be overseen by the Municipal Corporations.

“We will be making those transfers [of funds] through the Ministry of Local Government [and Community Development] from the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation this week. This will allow Members of Parliament and Councillors to immediately respond to those most in need, and this is the first of many other steps,” he stated.

The Minister made the announcement during Wednesday’s (February 26) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

Meanwhile, Mr. Samuda informed that 23 National Water Commission (NWC) systems are experiencing intake shortfalls, equating to five per cent of these facilities. These, he added, are now being regulated.

They, however, do not include the Hermitage Dam and Mona Reservoir, which serve the Corporate Area.

“As at February 13, the Hermitage Dam was at 89 per cent [of capacity] while the Mona Reservoir was at 98 per cent,” the Minister indicated.

In the meantime, Mr. Samuda said the Government plans to commence distributing 10,000 water tanks over the upcoming weekend.

This undertaking was announced by Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, in his Budget presentation last year.

“What that will allow, in essence, is 150 recipients per constituency to receive tanks. This is a major intervention in the tertiary storage level,” Mr. Samuda said.

He also informed that the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service has made $10.1 billion available to the NWC to continue its capital works programme, of which $7.3 billion is already under contract.

“These are projects that will immediately commence in April, once the first warrant comes over from the Ministry of Finance,” Mr. Samuda said.

Meanwhile, he advised that the rainfall outlook for February is not as chronic as last year.

“We do expect that the rainy season will start in April this year as opposed to May last year. We will continue to monitor the drought conditions very carefully,” Mr. Samuda added.

He said the Meteorological Service of Jamaica (Met Service) and NWC will provide updates as the dry season continues.

Jamaica is experiencing a meteorological drought, which occurs when dry weather patterns dominate an area.

Prolonged occurrence of this phenomenon usually results in hydrological drought, which takes place when low water supply becomes evident, particularly in streams, reservoirs and groundwater.