NWC to Complete Deployment of Generators Today

The National Water Commission (MWC) is working to restore water supply to communities facing disruption in service due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday (October 30), at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kingston, Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Matthew Samuda, said that generators are being deployed to areas without power and that process is expected to be completed by Friday morning (October 31).

“We are pushing very hard to deploy our generators and working with the JPS to hit our 70 per cent target by the 72 hours [of the ‘all clear’ being given] for the restoration of water to customers,” he pointed out.

Arrangements have been made to provide generators for 17 systems that serve communities between eastern St. Elizabeth and central Westmoreland.

“We are working with the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) to establish the routes to instal the generators over the next 36 to 48 hours,” Minister Samuda said, noting that it will take 12 to 18 hours to backfill the lines.

Also being prioritised is the completion of loading-bay operations to facilitate trucking.

“We are clear that many of our rural communities exist outside of the utility footprint and can be marooned or cut off from some of the small community tanks that they use. We have done an inventory of all the trucks that exist in the NWC licence system, and we have mobilised those truckers to the stations that they can load, and we expect to be going into deep rural as well as into urban centres,” the Minister said.

He noted that loading-bay operations have commenced in Trelawny and at Logwood in Hanover to deal with most of the parish and western Westmoreland.

“We will start to deal with eastern St. James. We are working to get a power source to a small well that we have in western St. James,” he said, noting that trucking was set to commence Thursday evening in the western half of St. James.

Minister Samuda said that the NWC will be operating 24 hours a day “to ensure that we are able to backfill public institutions at night where we can get access and go into communities in the day”.

In Clarendon, which has been impacted heavily by energy issues, the major systems that service the central areas of the parish were scheduled to be energised by Thursday evening.

“That will give us significant reprieve. However, the major issue that we face is in the Mineral Heights and Woodside facilities. Those were significantly damaged by storm winds,” he said, noting that engineering teams were doing the assessments to determine how long it will take for restoration.

As it relates to St. Catherine, the Minister reported that the treatment plant is already back in operation.

Backfilling of lines from Spanish Town into Old Harbour was expected to be completed by Thursday and persons in the plains of St. Catherine should largely have water supply by the end of day.

Minister Samuda also reported that systems in Portland and St. Thomas have been impacted by turbidity and some power issues.

Eight generators will be deployed for the two parishes, resulting in the restoration of water to approximately 50 per cent of Portland, and approximately 60 per cent of St. Thomas.

Meanwhile, Minister Samuda said that the NWC is working with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to restore power to water systems that serve hospitals, infirmaries, places of safety, places of detention and the airports.