Three Wells in St. Andrew to Be Recommissioned

The Beverly Hills, Cavaliers and Up Park Camp wells in St. Andrew will be recommissioned as a result of the current drought conditions.

The disclosure was made by National Water Commission (NWC) Acting President, Garth Jackson, during a special press briefing on Wednesday (July 16), at Jamaica House.

He advised that checks have been made on the electromechanical equipment and the boreholes to ensure that the wells are up to standard to last through the season.

“That will bring about just over two million gallons of additional water into service, so that we can cut back on the regular abstraction from the raw water impoundments,” Mr. Jackson said.

Meanwhile, Managing Director of the Water Resources Authority, Peter Clarke, underscored that groundwater, which refers to water sourced from aquifers and wells, responds the slowest to a lack of rain and dry conditions, because it is a deep-set natural resource.

“We can be pretty much assured that our systems that are served by wells will continue to be able to produce the amount of water that is required,” Mr. Clarke said.

In the meantime, Mr. Jackson shared that the NWC recently replaced a 1.5-million-gallon storage tank on the Hope property.

“That will allow us some operational flexibility in how we distribute water to areas served by the Hope system, which is generally Hope Road, sections of Mona, going back into Elletson Flats and Goldsmith Villa, coming down as far as the JCF Commissioner’s Office and sections of Wellington Drive,” he noted.