Duhaney Park despair

RESIDENTS of sections of Duhaney Park, St Andrew, who have been struggling with little or no water in their taps for some time could face the problem for much longer.

Minister of Water Matthew Samuda says “patchwork” repairs are no longer sufficient to address the persistent water supply problems affecting Duhaney Park as the community’s ageing distribution network requires a complete rebuild.

“The challenge in Duhaney Park, specifically, is that their distribution network is amongst the worst in Kingston and St Andrew,” Samuda told a meeting of the Jamaica Observer Press Club on Friday.

“There is no week [the people] in Duhaney Park do not have some challenge. And it’s no longer time for a patchwork — it’s time for full rebuilding of that distribution network,” added Samuda as he responded to residents of Shakespeare Avenue in the community, where the water shortage situation has reportedly worsened in recent weeks.

Residents have reportedly gone entire weeks without water and, when the supply returns, it is usually between 1:00 and 2:00 am at insufficient pressure to reach inside some homes.

The supply reportedly disappears by approximately 5:00 am, while residents have also complained of receiving no water on weekends.

A water truck was reportedly dispatched to the area on Monday, July 6, allowing residents to refill their storage tanks. However, those supplies are reportedly either exhausted or running low, while water has not returned through the pipelines despite assurances that efforts would be made to address the problem.

Samuda explained that several older residential communities in western St Andrew and western Kingston are served by ageing infrastructure that require significant attention.

He indicated that these communities would be among the priority areas when a firm is appointed later this year under the Government’s planned expansion of its non-revenue water programme.

Non-revenue water refers to treated water that is lost before reaching customers because of issues including leaking or broken pipelines, illegal connections, and other deficiencies in the distribution system.

Samuda said having been made aware of the situation affecting Shakespeare Avenue, he will engage Member of Parliament for the community Anthony Hylton, and the National Water Commission’s regional manager to determine what interventions are required.

An aerial view of a section of the Duhaney Park community in St Andrew.

“Having brought that matter to my attention — though MPs would have received letters last week with their allocations for trucking to help the most vulnerable — I will speak with their specific Member of Parliament and the regional manager in terms of what specifically needs to be done there,” he said.

Samuda added that the relevant agencies would be engaged to identify vulnerable households in Duhaney Park and ensure they are included on water-trucking routes.

“We will also contact, through the Ministry of Labour — we usually do an SDC [Social Development Commission] assessment of the most vulnerable households and ensure that they are on our trucking route so that they themselves are better taken care of,” Samuda said.

Meanwhile, Dr Philippa Campbell-Francis, acting vice-president for divisional operations at the NWC, said the company has close to 20 operational water trucks islandwide which can be redeployed based on demand.

She said the NWC also engages approximately 60 contracted water truckers, and encouraged communities experiencing supply disruptions to contact the commission and request trucked water.