NEW RIVER, St Elizabeth — Dean Peart, the minister of land and environment, has set up a broad-based committee to find a long-term solution to the persistent flooding problems plaguing sections of St Elizabeth.

The committee, which consists of community members and state agencies, will present its recommendations to the minister who will then take it to Cabinet.

However in the short term, Minister Peart said, efforts will be made to have Jamaica Broilers, the operators of Aquaculture Jamaica Limited, install pumps that will take water from their development into the main stream of the Black River.

In addition, the National Irrigation Commission (NIC) is putting in two canals which will also lead water into the Black River and away from the community. Some parts of New River have been under water for the last two weeks and several families have already been forced to leave their homes.

While not giving a time-frame in which the committee is scheduled to complete its work, Minister Peart urged a speedy completion.

“There are sections where the water levels have fallen between two and two-and-a-half feet and there is the need for the canals to lead water away from the backed up areas into the main stream of the Black River,” manager of the NIC’s St Elizabeth Branch, Felton Brown, told the Observer .

He said the NIC will be closely monitoring activities in the Black River’s upper morass area to ensure that adjoining communities are not affected. They will also ensure that the lower sections of the Black River morass do not become flooded as a result of work in the upper sections.

Last year, over 100 residents were forced to move into emergency shelters.