KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Government’s black tanks project, which aims to improve the water resilience of thousands of vulnerable households, will be rolled out shortly.

The project, which also includes a water-harvesting component, was announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, during his 2023/24 Budget Debate presentation earlier this year.

Under the initiative, 50,000 black tanks will be provided to residents of rural communities over the next five years to significantly improve water resilience.

“The pilot phase of this project will start in days. So, we will start the process of giving those households which are the most economically challenged, which exist outside of the utility footprint or in an area where the utility footprint is so poor that they need desperate storage,” Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator. Matthew Samuda, said.

He made the disclosure in the Senate on Friday while providing an update on the National Water Commission (NWC) lifting of the Prohibition Order imposed earlier this year against the non-essential or excessive use of water supplied in certain sections of the country.

“This project comes with the rainwater-harvesting component. Guttering will be included as well, [and] we have asked MPs (Members of Parliament) to give us 10 names of youngsters who will work with Rural Water [Supply Limited] by parish on the installation. So, we are training them through HEART and we are ensuring, also, that they are a part of that on-the-job experience,” the minister stated.

Senator Samuda said those who excel will be further invested in additional training in leak detection.

“That is another issue, both at the household and at the commercial level, but rainwater harvesting without a plan is simply insufficient,” he added.

Senator Samuda further said that guidelines for water harvesting will be brought to the Houses of Parliament to support policies that have been implemented.

“The rainwater-harvesting guidelines will be gazetted in a matter of weeks and will be brought to the Lower and Upper House, which will guide developers and guide our agencies that do approvals as to where to insist on rainwater harvesting and in what circumstances, and how to determine what systems are appropriate for the areas because it’s not ‘one size fits all’.

“We will also table, as it has been approved by the Cabinet, the Water Resources Management Plan for Jamaica, for the first time in Jamaica’s history, at the next sitting of the Lower House,” the minister said.

He reiterated that the Watershed Management Policy was tabled earlier this year as part of the Government’s environmental management plan.

“We are at 2.7 million trees planted out of our three-million tree-planting initiative. We are putting in the investment to manage our microclimate,” Senator Samuda stated.

He said Jamaica’s forest cover has increased over the last 15 years, noting that “that is something we are proud of because we are managing the land resources very carefully”.

Meanwhile, Senator Samuda said the Government will continue to implement measures to build resilience and increase capacity.

“We acknowledge that all households are not affected equally. We acknowledge that the poorer households, especially in rural communities, have been disproportionately affected, in some cases, by being outside of the utility footprint… meaning they are not on NWC lines or municipal water systems, as well as those who are in remote areas,” he said.

-JIS