FAMILIES islandwide, and especially those in the Corporate Area, have for months now been plagued by worries over water as the rains refuse to come and the National Water Commission daily rations the essential natural resource.

Included among them is the nine-member Davis family of the

Airy Castle community in Stony Hill, St Andrew, whose members are nearing the end of their rope.

They, like so many others in the area, get water only for about five or so hours on some days, while the pressure is low and the commodity dirty.

"It is unbearable. But we just have to try and cope with the system," said Andrea Davis, who heads the family of nine, which includes her two children, her grandfather, a sister, a niece, a nephew, her uncle and a cousin.

She said that their predicament is made worse by the current economic realities.

"We can't afford to buy a tank so we have two drums, one that we use for water and one for clothes," the single mother, who is in her 40s, told Environment Watch.

Davis noted that while they may get water between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm in the days, the one drum that they have is not able to hold enough to supply the entire household until the next day. As a result, they have had to get creative with their use of water.

"If anybody bathe, they have to save the water to flush the toilet," she said. "To tell the truth, I am not afraid to beg and so I will beg my neighbours (for water) and send my daughter to beg too. I am not ashamed to beg."

This, Davies added, she does from neighbours who own water tanks.

"We have a river nearby, but because the rain is not falling the water is dirty and cannot really be used for much," the woman said. "I tell my daughter if she does not have enough water to bathe then she should just tidy up. What else can we do? The water situation is really very bad. Once it was bad, but it is worse now."

She said that another of her family's strategy is to catch water in the many soda bottles that they purchase daily.

"We are always buying sodas, so one of the things we do is to full the bottles and save them for drinking," she said.

Davis noted that piped water would at one time be available from 10:00 am until 8:00 pm. Now it is turned off by 4:00 pm -- sometimes even 2:00 pm -- and it is more than the family can take.

"You have to do all that you are doing from early before the water goes," said the frustrated woman, adding that it is hard for a household that size whose members are out to school or work for most of the day.

Her sister Marie added that even with the water shortage, the water bills keep coming and the amount is similar to the amount they usually received prior to the drought.

"I don't know what will happen and how we are going to manage," Marie said. "We just have to pray for rain. There is nothing else that we can do."

Other community members feel that their ongoing water troubles are to be blamed, at least in part, on the water trucks that go in, fill up from the hydrant, and then leave for other communities where they sell the water.

"The trucks come and load up and transport water to other areas," one elderly man said from his place under a dry tree trunk in the community.

"It is unfair that we do not have water here and it is being sold to outside people," complained the man who did not give his name.

Other community members concurred, adding that it was a practice that prevailed because they are unable to pay for water while people from other communities can.

"Is a money-making business they doing. They are not suppose to be selling water, but persons need it and they are willing to pay for it, so of course they will sell it. Both parties benefit. But what happen to those who can't pay? They have no choice but to do without," the elderly man said further.

"We can't afford to buy water; we can't even afford to buy tank," said Davis of her own family. "The water should be free. Right now Hermitage dam is pure sand, no water is there, so I don't know how we are going to cope. We just have to pray for rain."

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