NWC Restores 95 Per Cent of Water Systems

Some 95 per cent of the National Water Commission’s (NWC) water treatment and production capacity has been restored, after the devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan four weeks ago.
Corporate Public Relations Manager at the NWC, Charles Buchanan, told JIS News that of the 460 water supply systems, which the NWC operated across the island, 392 of them have been brought back into service.
In Hanover, all of the 19 water supply systems are back in operation, while in some of the other parishes, there are still some areas that have not yet been brought back onto the NWC’s network. Mr. Buchanan said these areas included sections of Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Elizabeth, St. Ann, Clarendon, Westmoreland and Manchester.
“The National Water Commission continues to work to restore those systems, which still remain out of operation, in the shortest possible time. We continue to work very closely with the Jamaica Public Service, as in some instances, the facilities, which are still out of operation, need energising,” he told JIS News.Mr. Buchanan pointed out, however, that some of the systems that have not yet been restored were affected by “other problems not related to energy and electricity supply”.
“The National Water Commission is working in all of those instances, to complete the repairs and to undertake the necessary work in terms of clearing intake structures and making physical changes to those structures and facilities, which had been damaged and which are still out of operation,” he added.
Mr. Buchanan said the NWC was mindful too, that although 90 per cent of the Commission’s customers have had their piped water supply restored, there remained pockets of persons along those restored distribution lines, who were experiencing some difficulty, either with “low water pressure, intermittent water supply or similar problem”.”We ask people to understand that we are still troubleshooting all of the systems that we are bringing back into operation and in some instances, there may be some slight fluctuations in the pressure,” he informed.
Meanwhile, Mr. Buchanan is reminding customers to treat with bleach or boil all drinking water until further notice.