RECENTLY appointed minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Pearnel Charles Jr, has taken charge of the ministry’s oversight of the new National Water Sector Policy and Implementation Plan.

The plan is an update of the 2004 Jamaica Water Sector Policy. It outlines the current situation in the water and wastewater sector, and seeks to ensure that the principles, objectives and policy directions for the management of Jamaica’s water resources are in line with Vision 2030 Jamaica — National Development Plan.

“There are several issues that have arisen within the weather system and, even though there are no considerable challenges, we have had a prolonged dry period in the country. And we have been trying to work as best as possible to manage the available resources which have been significantly reduced so that we can provide, in a regulatory way, water to as many people as possible,” Charles said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

“So we have been implementing a water resource management strategy, which includes various modalities such as: Regulation of the water available in the pipes through lock-offs; trucking water to those areas, some within the National Water Commission’s system, and some outside of it, and any area that requires water to be stored, there is provision of water storage equipment; and we will be providing and expanding the rainwater-harvesting systems as well as monitoring and trying to improve catchment areas across the country,” he explained.

“We are also exploring new technologies that can assist in terms of reducing the evaporation at the dam, utilising renewable energy to reduce electricity costs.

“The goal for us is advancing on an integrated water management process, and we have already tabled the policy in Parliament in June this year,” he noted.

Charles Jr said that the National Water Sector Policy and Implementation Plan identifies a number of challenges that are being experienced in the country, one of the main ones being the high level of non-revenue water, which is water from government sources that is not getting to legitimate customers.

In other words, this is water wasted through leakages or water which is being stolen from its resources, including when NWC water pipes are breached.

“We have high energy costs in Jamaica, and we know that water delivery is primarily driven by electricity in order to utilise the pumps, et cetera, and we are vulnerable to climate change and its impact — particularly the shifting in drought conditions and the shifting in the intensity of rainfall,” he went on.

“So we are having rain in the west, and places like Portland that are known for the most intense rains are having droughts. We have inadequate storage capacity across the country, so we have to be moving towards new projects,” he stated.

He noted he recently announced Rio Cobre Content, which is aimed at increasing capacity and improving the capacity of the system to satisfy the demand in Kingston and St Andrew and across the country.

That demand is for 60 million gallons per day, and he thinks the deficit is at least 20 million gallons per day.

Charles Jr identified inadequate infrastructure as a main reason for the failure to meet demand, noting that some of the pipelines are very old. However, he said that as the major roads are restructured under the current programme, some of the old pipelines are being replaced.

There is a management and maintenance system being used to improve collaboration between the various agencies to reduce waste and improve the connected infrastructure system, which includes both the water and the drainage systems, so there is connectivity, he said.

“So this is not only about potable water, it also includes wastewater — because we are addressing the poor wastewater management practices as well as watershed degradation.

“This water policy treats with all of these issues and puts forward the Government’s vision on how we are going to manage water resources, and it is guided by how that will be included in the national development plan,” he noted.