National Water Commission lines up Salt Spring talks as McGhie Top grapples with patchy supply

Residents of McGhie Top in Salt Spring, St James, still face uneven access to piped water, and the National Water Commission (NWC) has signalled it will sit with them shortly to hear their worries and outline what is being done to make delivery more dependable.

The utility said it mailed the local Community Development Committee to suggest a gathering on Monday so it could speak to the difficulties householders report and share progress on shoring up reliability.

Over the past few months, the commission pointed to a mix of day-to-day running changes and capital works paid for through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), aimed at steadying the network and pushing water more evenly through neighbourhoods that had been shortchanged.

Parallel to those JSIF schemes, crews are swapping out failed pumping gear that feeds the district, the NWC added.

In a Friday bulletin, the agency quoted itself at length: "These activities are being complemented by NWC works to replace damaged pump equipment serving the area. While there was a temporary adjustment to active pipe-laying works due to technical challenges, the project remains on track for completion," it said.

NWC and JSIF officers walked the site together on Wednesday; based on fresh reviews, the commission believes remaining contract tasks can be closed out by 31 May, with a lift in how the system performs likely around the start of June.

Work now in progress includes stringing a fresh main from the pumping station to the storage tank to speed tank fill, closing out outstanding JSIF items, and putting rebuilt pump sets back in service within roughly the next two to three weeks.

The NWC further noted that field teams are reviewing pockets where pressure or volume still fall short, and will roll out fixes wherever its checks show they are warranted.

Until regular pumping is restored, the body said it will keep sending bowser loads once per week, on Thursdays, to bridge the gap for residents.