ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — The National Water Commission (NWC) is reporting that the wide scale, persistent practice of illegally connecting to its water supply network is wreaking havoc on distribution operations, especially in several areas of St Elizabeth, and is to be blamed for many of the water supply problems affecting that parish.

The NWC, in a release this evening, said that while the dry, hot conditions with below normal rainfall have resulted in a significant reduction in yield from about 20 percent of its 450 water supply sources islandwide, the major problem in St Elizabeth (and some other areas of the island) is a major increase in the illegal abstraction of water from the network.

Regional Manager for Manchester and St Elizabeth, Assistant Vice President Jermaine Jackson, said that the primary problem is a shortage of water for agricultural purposes, not a shortage of potable water for domestic purposes.

He indicated that most of the water supply systems in both parishes have maintained their normal production outputs, despite the below normal rainfall.

Jackson said that the NWC now has to dedicate two days out of each week to conduct operations, with police support, to remove illegal connections from the network.

“Many of our customers near the end of our pipeline networks are unable to get water simply because other people are stealing the water before it gets to them,” Jackson said, adding “we are unable to get water to sections of Bull Savannah because of illegal connections in the area.”

He said the biggest example of this problem is on its Munro/Malvern Water Supply System, where illegal connections to its network has severely hampered efforts to supply water to Malvern, Munro, Hampton, Bethlehem, Belleview, Top Hill, Southfield, Seaview, Congo Hole, Yardley Chase, St Marys, Portsea, Milksham, Red Bank, Top Flagaman and Round Hill.