BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth — The St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation is to lobby central government regarding the possibility of establishing a National Water Commission (NWC) filling station in Nain, St Elizabeth, to deal with seasonal drought.

Mayor of Black River and chairman of the municipal corporation Derrick Sangster pledged, at the last monthly meeting, to write a letter to minister without portfolio with responsibility for water Pearnel Charles Jr asking that the request be considered.

Sangster (Jamaica Labour Party, Mountainside Division) told the Jamaica Observer by telephone last Friday that the letter had been drafted and would be dispatched soon.

He would also be making contact with the water minister by telephone, he said. Councillor Layton Smith (People’ National Party, Myersville Division) made the proposal for the filling station at Nain against the backdrop of the expected drought in the first few months of the year.

“We need to do it from now, in time for the drought…” said Smith, arguing that the trucking of water by both individuals and the corporation would be made easier.

Much of St Elizabeth remains without piped water from the NWC.

Many residents depend on rainwater harvesting and storage and on expensive trucking of water — either through private arrangements or with the help of the municipal corporation and allocations from parliamentary representatives — during the dry months.

Smith said the recent commissioning of the Essex Valley Water Scheme, which now supplies water to Junction and neighbouring communities from a well field in Long Hill close to Nain, meant the capacity exists for a filling station.

Also, he said the need for trucked water from an NWC facility is now greater following the closure of the Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO)/Alpart alumina refinery late last year.

Alpart — often blamed for poor air and water quality caused by industrial emissions — has traditionally trucked water to communities in the vicinity of the plant.

However, the alumina plant has been shut down since late last year to accommodate major rehabilitation over the next two years.

And, Smith told the meeting that management at JISCO/Alpart had complained that continued delivery of trucked water to residents of Myersville was unsustainable because of high costs.

Councillor Jeremy Palmer (JLP, Pedro Plains Division) recalled that Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie had promised water trucks to the St Elizabeth local authority to complement the opening of community water (storage) shops in St Elizabeth.

Palmer argued that the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation should seek to “have an emergency response” in order to get past time-consuming procurement rules in getting the trucks.

“At this stage, with a drought up on us, we need to have an emergency response… [with] procurement rules there is no urgency. We could be talking about next year this time…” Palmer said.

— Garfield Myer