THE National Water Commission (NWC) says it has been struggling with an increasing incidence of theft of its cables, motors, valves, manhole covers and other pieces of its water supply and wastewater infrastructure over the last few months.

The theft, the NWC said yesterday, has been resulting in unplanned disruptions in service to some of its customers.

“As recent as last week, vandals damaged large sections of cable connected to the motors at the Christian Pen sewerage facility in St Catherine, resulting in the plant being out of operation until Wednesday when NWC technicians completed repairs and returned the facility into operation.

Prior to that, the NWC said it had also suffered significant damage or loses as well as operational disruptions in locations in the parishes of St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, St James and St Ann. These were instances that occurred within the last six months and are suspected to be directly related to growing theft of infrastructure for illegal sale as scrap metals.

According to the commission, in one instance, thieves removed four motors, two pumps, several pieces of steel pipes and two dismantled engines, valued at more than $6 million, rendering the particular water supply system at Seville in St Ann inoperable for several weeks.

Yesterday, the commission appealed to the members of the public to report any suspicious activity observed at any of its facilities to the police or its security department.

“This water and wastewater systems operated by NWC are public facilities designed to serve the public good. It’s our water supply and our wastewater systems.

It is, therefore, in the interest of every member of the community to protect these facilities from unscrupulous thieves and vandals,” said corporate public relations manager, Charles Buchanan.