Samuda expects full NWC water service by Tuesday after islandwide blackout

Water Minister Matthew Samuda says the National Water Commission should have water back to all customers by Tuesday, after Friday’s islandwide blackout left about 2,000 people still without supply.

Samuda, speaking with Observer Online on Monday, said the latest report up to 8:00 pm Sunday showed that just one system in Manchester and two treatment plants in St Elizabeth had not yet returned to operation after the power disruption.

He said the remaining shutdowns were linked to Jamaica Public Service issues, with NWC and JPS teams working together at the affected locations. Samuda said he expected the problem to be cleared up on Monday, adding that by Tuesday no customer should still be without water because of the blackout.

The minister’s update followed a JPS outage that had, by 2:00 pm Saturday, disrupted water supply to roughly 65,000 households. That figure represented about 12 per cent of the NWC’s overall customer base.

On Monday, Samuda described the disruption as regrettable, while stressing that the Administration has been taking steps to make Jamaica’s water system better able to withstand power failures.

He said water utilities are usually among the largest users of electricity, so when power is lost, the sector tends to feel the impact sharply. According to Samuda, that is why the Government has spent more than $1 billion since Hurricane Beryl on standby generators designed to take over quickly when electricity supply fails.

Samuda also said the Government intends to keep moving the sector toward more dependable and sustainable energy arrangements. He noted, however, that building that level of resilience across about 70 per cent of the distribution network will take a few more years because spending has to match available revenue.

The policy direction, he said, has already been settled, but the pace of the work must stay within what the system can afford.