South Trelawny farmers' cry for water

Karrie Williams, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

The new year is devoid of good news for residents of the Wait-A-Bit and Litchfield communities in south Trelawny as they wake up to the age-old problem of no water in their pipes.

Residents contend that although the National Water Commission's (NWC's) pipes have been dry for the past six years, they are being besieged by water bills.

"We need political representatives to come to Litchfield and help us with our water problem as we have been suffering from a lack of water in our pipes since 2007. Yet we are still getting monthly bills from the NWC," said James Osbourne, a farmer from the community.

Sharing the residents' concern, Paul Patmore, councillor for the Lorrimers Division, in which both communities fall, said he had been lobbying the NWC on their behalf.

"The Green Town water supply, which supplies the Litchfield and Wait-A-Bit areas, has been out of service now for over six years. Every single month, at the (Trelawny) parish council, I make representation on behalf of the people to the NWC, appealing for water in the division. Every month, they say to me they are going to address it come next week, and I've been councillor for the past two years and nothing has been done," Patmore told Western Focus.

However, Osbourne refuted the claim by Patmore that he had been lobbying for a resolution to the problem. Residents say that he has not been doing enough to get water returned to their pipelines.

"Patmore tricked us with some free water when he was running for office and promised us that he would get the NWC to open up water for us, but since he won, we have not heard anything else from him on the matter," declared Osbourne.

As a result of the lack of water, residents of the predominantly farming communities are forced to purchase water for domestic use from truckers at exorbitant costs. Citing the cost of filling a 680-gallon water tank as only a few hundred dollars short of a full week's minimum wage ($5,000), farmers in the communities say they have had to abandon their fields.

Cannot afford to buy water

"We are farmers and we love to work, but right now, we can't because there is no water. We have to constantly buy water for everyday usage and we cannot afford to purchase water for our farms. Things are even worse now because we are experiencing a prolonged drought. That is why we sit around playing games because we have no water to attend to our fields," lamented another farmer, Delbert Powell.

However, according to the National Water Commission's parish water plan for Trelawny, "The water supply network throughout the parish is aged and undersized, which has resulted in an unacceptable level of service being provided." It noted also that there was insufficient water in the parish to meet the water requirements, even with the existing technical losses due to leaks and tank overflows, among other things.

The NWC document said Wait-a-bit and Litchfield were served by the Green Town water supply, which comes from a spring located in the community of Green Town. In addition to Litchfield and Wait-a-bit, Green Town serves the Joe Hut, Backwoods, Wood Grove, and Lowe River districts.

It noted, though, that the Green Town supply is "inconsistent during the dry periods, resulting in water restrictions in the service area".

"The pipelines in this system are mainly old galvanised steel pipes that leak badly and break frequently. The water tank located at Backwoods is old and badly corroded and has been abandoned, thus affecting the reliability of supply to the Backwoods and Wood Grove communities," the document noted.

The NWC also recommended that a $3.2 billion water-improvement project be undertaken to identify and address the deficiencies. The project, it said, should include a pumping station and intake-works rehabilitation, a tank expansion, and pipeline replacement.

It recommended the implementation of an accompanying watershed-conservation programme, entailing water-supply enhancement through forestry; a watershed and development framework for community forestry; and integration of tree growing into rural development initiatives.

The NWC also proposed the identification of mechanisms to allow rural communities to share equitably in the benefits of forest utilisation, as well as support to special forms of forest management such as buffer zones as part of protected-area management.