A teddy bear lay on the bank of the Rio Minho in the Mullett Hall area of Clarendon to dry. Around it lay laundry done by women who travelled from surrounding communities where there is no potable water, despite the fact that pipes are installed in their homes.

Meters away, a woman and some teenage girls bathe and do their laundry in the murky water that has been a saviour, especially in the dry time.

“When I hear them talk about improvement and development, that stops in Kingston or maybe May Pen. The people who live in these areas, as far as I see, we do not exist,” said a Mullett Hall resident who gave her name as ‘Tanny’.

The mother, who was seen at the river bathing her child, bemoaned the lack of water and insufficient street lighting in her community.

“Nobody cares for us,” she said.

On Friday, Sangsters Heights residents Carmen Granston and Sonia Dixon could be seen leaving the river with their laundry on their heads.

The women spent $1,300 on taxi fares to take them to the river. Sangsters Heights is approximately a mile from the river but the transportation cost is that high due to the horrible condition of the road leading through New Danks to the river.

The New Danks Road, which is the main thoroughfare that cuts through the community just outside the Chapelton square, is said to have been in the deplorable state for more than a decade, according to residents.

The entire road is covered in sand and what appears to be sea stones. At some sections, the road narrows to a track by overgrown shrubs.

“We don’t have any water and we are still getting bills. They say we still have to pay,” Granston said, referring to the National Water Commission (NWC).

Granston said her latest water bill came to $5,000 but that she hasn’t paid it. She said she paid the majority of the $4,700 for her previous bill because she didn’t want the NWC to take away her pipe as they had threatened.

However, she said she will not be paying the current bill because of back-to-school expenses, coupled with the fact that she hasn’t been getting any water in her pipe.

“That is madness,” she said, “and look at the condition of the water we have to depend on”.

In New Danks, the water situation is the same. Resident said the area has been without piped water for more than three months and that when water does come the pressure isn’t sufficient to meet their needs.

Residents at the elevated section of the community also do not get any water.

According to the residents, they have to resort to going to the river to wash and purchase drinking water.