LITTLE LONDON, Westmoreland – People’s National Party (PNP) councillor for the Little London Division in Westmoreland Western, Ian Myles, says the “aggressive expansion” of housing developments in sections of the constituency, and the failure of the Bullstrode Water Supply to meet the increase demand have resulted in the lack of piped water in several communities in the constituency.

Areas served by the Bullstrode Water Supply include Grange Hill, Truro, Alma, Burnt Savannah, and Georges Plain.

“One of the issues is that the Bullstrode Water Station continues to break down because of the extra demand caused by the aggressive expansion of housing developments across the Western Westmoreland constituency,” Myles told the Jamaica Observer West recently.

“It was built to accommodate only 13,000 persons, [now] that would be Grange Hill residents alone; the pump cannot sustain everybody,” he stressed.

The point was reiterated by PNP councillor for the Grange Hill Division, Lawton McKenzie, who added at last month’s regular general meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation that “Bullstrode started as a plant for just Grange Hill, but Bullstrode now sends water all the way to Grove [a community in Savanna-la-Mar], and the biggest line goes to Broughton, adding that “the water pass the people [residents of Grange Hill].”

But Myles argued that, “even when Bullstrode is operating at 100 per cent Broughton has not seen any water.”

Communities suffering from a lack of the commodity in Westmoreland Western include Friendship, Grange Hill, Little London, Sheffield and parts of Negril.

Myles, who also resides in one of the affected communities, said his area has been without the commodity for the past three months.

“This water situation has been tabled by Dr Wykeham McNeill in Parliament, while he was Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Western, with a proposal that these communities in Westmoreland Western who are connected to the Bullstrode Water plant be placed on the Roaring River Water grid which is equipped to supply water to the entire parish of Westmoreland, and it was approved. So why is it taking so long for the Government to do its due diligence?” he asked.

“The residents are frustrated,” Myles stressed.

Kevin Murray, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillor of the Friendship Division, also in the Westmoreland Western constituency, told the Observer West that “one of the pumps at the Bullstrode plant was broken [in September], it was repaired and then it went down again, which also impacted the water supply to the different communities.”

The situation, he said, has worsened in recent weeks.

“In my division, areas that were not normally affected are now being affected,” he pointed out.

Regional director for the National Water Commission (NWC), Jeffery Smith, however, told the Observer that the issue sometimes has to do with rainfall in the area.

“Whenever there is a lot of rain we get dirty water from the spring. We can’t put the dirty water in the system, so we have to shut down during these times,” he said.

He added, however, that plans are afoot to integrate the Bullstrode plant with some other source— possibly the Roaring River plant.