APPROXIMATELY 100 households are expected to benefit from a special National Water Commission (NWC) project at New Forrest and Spring Ground in St Elizabeth where 570 lengths of new pipelines have been laid.

According to Charles Buchanan, the NWC’s public relations manager, the water management agency had to install new pipes because the old ones were “illegally tampered with”, creating many problems for the NWC as well as preventing some residents in the more elevated areas in the community from receiving their water supply.

“We are, at this time, encouraging residents of the communities to come in to the NWC’s commercial offices and make arrangements to be transferred from the old pipeline to the new one, because the old pipeline will soon be discarded,” Buchanan told JIS News.

“This,” he added, “was in the continued efforts of the NWC to ensure that the integrity of our pipe network is maintained and that our customers receive safe water.”

Buchanan warned that persons who are illegally connected to the NWC’s network would ultimately be taken off, and the commission, he said, had the option of taking legal action against guilty persons.

Once completed, the commission is expecting to see significant increases in revenue collections from this project, Buchanan said.