Don’t patronise us, NWC! It’s never too early to panic!
Dear Editor,
“Too early to panic” is a bit of a stretch in this water crisis. Each year this situation gets worse.
I remember as a little girl I would see my mother and grandmother carrying water up the stairs of our apartment building at Victoria Courts, Whitehall, very early in the morning. It was a real struggle.
So the National Water Commission (NWC) is just now concerned about the low water levels? Just now?!
I haven’t had water in over a month coming from my pipes; whether the water pressure is too low to make it up the stairs or there’s none at all.
How can Jamaica be the land of wood and water if we have such low levels of water each year at intervals? The surrounding communities I can’t swear for, but, trust me, it’s real bad because even businesses have it hard example, hairdressing parlours and cook shops. We all have a water issue.
In May/June water only came upstairs at approximately 3:00 – 4:00 in the mornings, when most of us are asleep. So we were forced to ‘bleach’ on water just to fill up a container, but yet our water bills are higher than it was when we actually had water regularly.
“We are monitoring the levels on a daily basis,” says the NWC. Was this being done for all the years prior?
“We are putting in place a number of contingency plans,” says the NWC. A contingency plan done well will display the managerial abilities of those in charge. It will also show up the plans that took risk management into consideration and the prioritisation of them.
And, it’s always a good time to conserve on our water usage, especially since we can’t predict when the NWC will decide to lock it off!
It’s never too early to panic!
Shanice Brown
shanb1996@gmail.com
