THE water crisis plaguing the nation and the need for Robert Pickersgill to go as water minister is reaching boiling point. It is frankly annoying to hear his continued hollow, monotonous announcements about addressing Jamaica’s chronic water supply challenges.

In the case of St Thomas, the situation is quite dire. Here we have a ‘water-rich’ parish, having water supply problems on the scale of ‘water-poor’ Manchester. The Yallahs River in good times pumps 17 million imperial gallons of water per day into the Kingston Metropolitan Area. Further yet, the Plantain Garden River has the capacity to produce eight million imperial gallons per day (MGD) of water, which is more than the average day demand of 5.8 MGD for the entire parish. However, the Whitehall Treatment Plant, which obtains water from this source, only treats 0.3 MGD of this water, approximately five per cent!

That aside, the ministries of local government and water and the National Water Commission (NWC) need to sit together in a room as soon as possible and structure an effective emergency water crisis management plan for the St Thomas Eastern area so as to prevent a serious health crisis and stop the collapse of remaining economic activities given the fact that more and more people are opting not to show up for work.

With St Thomas already officially listed as Jamaica’s poorest parish coupled with some of the highest levels of unemployment, exceeding 50 per cent in many districts, and wide-scale underdevelopment, it cannot be business as usual. As it stands now, the St Thomas Parish Council is without a single operating water truck. The National Water Commission, on the other hand, has two trucks operating for the entire parish with a population of 100,000, and private contractors are not sufficiently engaged due in part to monies owed to them by Government.

Residents and businesses in and around every district in St Thomas Eastern are simply unable to access water reliably, leading to much frustration. These areas include Morant Bay, Nuts River, Dumfries, Church Corner, Lyssons, Johns Town, Arcadia, Pear Tree River, Port Morant, Leith Hall, Prospect, Retreat, Stokes Hall, Duckenfield, Dalvey, Hampton Court, Golden Grove, Winchester, Barking Lodge, Amity Hall, Sunning Hill, Rowlandsfield, Wheelerfield, Bath, and surrounding communities. The use of dirty water is now a major concern. Some residents have even left the parish to live with relatives in other sections of the island that have decent water supply.

Drought conditions have only worsened the already crisis-ridden water supply issues throughout the constituency, making them possibly the worst-affected areas in all Jamaica.

Despite the abundance of potable water sources in St Thomas, the parish has always been plagued with the challenge of water shortages and improper water distribution. This is due to largely to poor maintenance and the continuous degradation of piping infrastructure, intake facilities, treatment plants, and pumping equipment.

The piping infrastructure, for instance, is in a significant state of disrepair. An NWC 2011 report noted that water supply pipelines range from 3/4-inch to 3-inch diameter. Most of the pipelines are old and are made of cast iron, with the remainder being asbestos concrete, galvanised iron, and small PVC pipes, many too encrusted and corroded for proper water distribution. There are also many observable leaks on these pipelines making their replacements pertinent. I recall a short walk through the Arcadia community several weeks ago and noted no less than seven leaks in less than a quarter of a mile.

It speaks to a level of neglect suffered by the people of St Thomas Eastern by a Member of Parliament, Dr Fenton Ferguson, who equals Robert Pickersgill in the realm of non-performance.

Sadly, yet understandably, many are doubtful that the Government will act, they have lost hope in the system. Hopefully, this appeal will make a difference…hopefully.

Delano Seiveright is the Jamaica Labour Party caretaker for St Thomas Eastern. delanoseiveright@yahoo.com