GOVERNMENT has entered into a $4.9-billion arrangement with an Israeli-based company, Miya, to help mop up the approximately 108 million litres of water per day that the National Water Commission (NWC) has been losing through leaks and theft.

Miya — experts in global urban water efficiency solutions — is expected to conduct an audit of the NWC’s network to assess how best to reduce its losses to 37 per cent within two years; 30 per cent within three years; and 20 per cent in the fifth year.

The contract for the project, which is being supported by the Inter-American Development Bank, was signed at Jamaica House yesterday.

The deal with the non-revenue water reduction specialists comes a week after the water minister outlined the dire situation the country faces, as supplies at dams and reservoirs drop to alarming lows, and rivers and other sources dry up under the spell of a worsening drought. Acting president of the NWC, Mark Barnett, said last week that non-revenue water (NRW) continues to account for as much as 67 per cent of its supply, and that theft accounted for 50 per cent of that loss.

Using a co-management approach, Miya is expected to provide services that will reduce the amount of NRW, resulting in an increase in the operational efficiencies of the NWC and ensure that more of the water it produces goes to legitimate customers.

Speaking at the signing, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller stressed that the bleeding of the NWC’s systems cannot continue. “Especially in this period of severe drought; we cannot afford to lose one drop of water,” she said. The prime minister assured that Miya has wide ranging global expertise in this area.

“Under this five-year project, Miya will implement strategies and action to enable the NWC to improve its performance and maximise the collection of income for the water it produces,” she said.

Simpson Miller also pointed to other efforts which she said the NWC is undertaking to arrest the problem of NRW. These include: a $1-billion ‘Re-charge’ project, for continuous extraction of water from the South St Catherine limestone source; a $1.6-billion project to expand the Martha Brae Water Treatment Plant to increase water supply to the parishes of Trelawny, St James and Westmoreland; a $3-billion investment for segment two of the Rio Cobre pipeline to benefit most areas in St Catherine and the Kingston Metropolitan Area; and the $1-billion Lucea transmission pipeline project, which is increasing water supply to communities in Hanover and Westmoreland.

Additionally, she said the NWC and the Water Resources Authority will be exploring the feasibility of distributing water from Trelawny and St Ann to areas of need in the southern and eastern sections of the island.