PRIME Minister Andrew Holness says the National Water Commission (NWC) will be relaxing water restrictions, following the increase in capacity at the Mona Reservoir and Hermitage Dam in St Andrew.

The recent period of heavy rainfall has raised water levels at Mona and Hermitage to 54 per cent and 72 per cent, respectively.

Holness said the easing of restrictions should be good news to Jamaicans, but urged members of the public to continue to practise conservation methods.

“We are still very cautious. So we are not going to totally abandon all our conservation methods, but we will relax so that people can get water now,” he said.

“Of course, there is the issue of turbidity, but the NWC will be able to address those through their treatment processes to ensure that customers can get water up to potable standards,” Holness told Parliament Tuesday.

He noted that since the beginning of 2019 sections of Jamaica have had varying levels of dryness, with St Ann, St Mary, Portland, St Elizabeth, St Thomas, and St Catherine experiencing drought conditions.

He pointed out that most of the rainfall occurred in the western parishes, particularly Hanover, Westmoreland, and Trelawny, representing a shift from the traditional high rainfall parishes of Portland and St Mary.

“These trends posed significant challenges to the availability of water for distribution within the Corporate Area, as most of the catchment areas for the Hermitage Dam and Mona Reservoir were affected directly by the dry conditions,” Holness said.