A dispute over the supply of piped water into the homes of approximately 5,000 residents in seven St Catherine communities has developed between St Catherine West Central Member of Parliament Dr Christopher Tufton and Spanish Town Mayor Norman Scott.

Tufton fired the first salvo late last week, saying that the St Catherine Municipal Corporation has not fulfilled a more than year-old mandate to provide the service under the $125-million Watermount Water Supply System, which is said to have fallen into ruin.

However, Scott on Sunday dismissed the claim and suggested that Tufton was out of touch with developments in his constituency.

The system, which was commissioned with much fanfare, was handed over by the Government to the People’s National Party-controlled St Catherine Municipal Corporation to connect pipes into the homes of residents of the communities of Watermount, Pedro, Old Works, Mendez, Back Pasture, Cudjoes Hill and Brown’s Town for a fee, and to administer and maintain the scheme.

TUFTON… there seems to be no urgency on the part of the parish council while citizens wait in frustration

However, a year later Dr Tufton, annoyed by the wait, has accused Scott of politicising the commodity and holding the residents who have paid their connection fees at ransom.

Tufton, in a February 2024 letter to Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie, appealed for his intervention in the matter, stating that “for months citizens have paid their monies to get connected and nothing has happened”.

“There seems to be no urgency on the part of the parish council while citizens wait in frustration,” Tufton stated.

The Point Hill Division where the Watermount scheme is located was represented by Councillor Wesley Suckoo, who died in December 2019, leaving the management of the division under the control of Mayor Scott.

However, Tufton said that since Suckoo’s death “there has been no communication” with himself or his team “on the work that is long overdue”.

SCOTT… I know that a substantial amount of individuals have been connected to the system

“It leaves me to wonder if the Government and the people of Watermount and its environs are being deliberately denied access to water on partisan political grounds. Otherwise, this lack of effort represents total incompetence on the part of the municipal authority,” the Government MP declared.

In the meantime, Dr Tufton, in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, said the situation has raised an important question for future consideration.

“When a councillor dies, how quickly do you replace him? How do you consult with the Member of Parliament, who is the chairman of the constituency, so that allocations can be done in a way that’s transparent?

“Secondly…the parish council collected $7,000 each from many residents from February last year. No connection has been made and… it doesn’t seem like they are maintaining the project, and they are certainly not carrying out the completion of it by connecting it to people’s homes — and then the people now get irate by blaming the Government,” he said.

“It shows negligence, it shows policy that may be ineffective; it needs to be reviewed. It shows political partisanship; the people of Watermount and its environs are suffering because after we put in this big infrastructure, they can’t get water and the mayor is silent, almost, on the matter,” Tufton added.

He said the plight of the citizens has also worsened due to the fact that plans to fix the roads in the area have been delayed because of the planned pipe-laying works.

“We don’t want to fix the road and dig it back up so the people suffering a double whammy — bad road and no water because we are waiting on the pipes to run before the roads get fixed. I think that’s the sensible thing to do,” he stated.

Managing director of Rural Water Supply Limited Audley Thompson, in a December 2023 letter to chief executive officer of the municipal corporation Andre Griffiths, following an inspection, complained that there is “limited maintenance of the tank sites”. According to Thompson, “on visiting the storage tank and pump station site in Watermount Square, along with the tank sites at Old Works and Pedro, they were observed to be overgrown with vegetation”.

Thompson further said “there is limited roll-out of the project, whereas provisions were made on the main pipelines for the expansion into the lanes and communities that intersect the main roads along that line”. He said these lanes and communities have yet to receive water from the upgraded system.

Thompson also said there are residents who have made payments for direct connection and reconnection on the mains but have only received “limited follow-ups”.

“The Government of Jamaica had provided the capital to fund the implementation of the project and it is now the municipal corporation’s responsibility to manage the operation and maintenance of the system. As such, we are also inquiring about the method or structure employed in the collection of tariffs as it relates to connections and service,” he said, adding that revenue generated is vital in funding the maintenance and operations activities periodically required to sustain the supply system.

However, on Sunday Scott declared that he had no reason to sabotage a system for which he was at the genesis.

According to Scott, after the William Gully Dam — to which the system was initially connected — was washed away by heavy rains in 2011, $20 million in funding was accessed to rebuild the dam.

“Then, when we did that we recognised that the pumping station was also in need of upgrading for the citizens of that community to have proper connection and so I went about trying to ascertain further assistance though Rural Water [Supply Ltd], which eventually came into being sometime later, at approximately $85 million for that upgrading. When the upgrading was completed we recognised there was further deficiency, which meant the transmission line was antiquated, some areas didn’t have transmission, so we again had to seek further funding to get these things done,” Scott said.

The mayor said while this was being done, individuals interested in being connected made their requests.

“I am told there were some individuals who paid and have still not been connected because no transmission lines were done in some of the lanes; those persons who are on the main [road] have all been connected to the system. Some of those in the lanes, they did make their payments so the municipality has embarked on an additional expansion of the distributing line, which is being undertaken now,” he told the
Observer.

According to Scott, Dr Tufton is the one politicising the issue.

“Whilst I really don’t like the idea of the distribution being done at a time like this, in the heights of election campaign, at least they would have seen that they have paid for some time and we have been doing this on a timely basis. It is unfortunate that the MP has not taken enough time, after eight years, to sit and know the needs of his constituents, instead of making statements which are misleading and malicious and in no way, shape, or form is in keeping with proper coordination and good governance of central and local government. But, it is the silly season and you would expect persons trying to score political points,” Scott said.

He scoffed at the figure being touted as the number of individuals to be connected.

“Unfortunately, the system cannot accommodate 5,000 persons. The information that is being passed on to you is misleading and disingenuous,” Scott declared.

Asked how many connections the system can facilitate or has so far accommodated, he said, “Unfortunately, I don’t have those figures with me but I know that a substantial amount of individuals have been connected to the system. And I will just say further that, contrary to the MP, since I became mayor I have renovated several wayside tanks in his constituency — that is why I make the statement that he really needs to go and know his constituency and know the needs of his constituents.”