MANDEVILLE, Manchester ––– Two months after he warned that there could be trouble if the Greater Mandeville Water Supply Improvement Project bypasses the Kingsland area, Member of Parliament for Manchester North Western Mikael Phillips says it would be a grave injustice if consideration is not given to areas the main pipeline flows through.

“Most of those communities that the main [pipeline] will be passing through do not have running water. I am saying that if we are going to be doing justice to the communities that the main pipe that will feed the greater Mandeville area, the town of Mandeville, [those communities] should be considered for water supply. As it is now, it is not a part of the programme,” Phillips said on Monday.

“We have been trying to figure out how it is that we will get those communities tapped into the project that is now being done by the Government, and it is something that I would say needs to be taken into consideration. It would be a grave injustice,” added Phillips who has repeatedly indicated his support for the project.

The $4.5-billion project has been touted as the largest expenditure on any water system in Manchester in Jamaica’s history and is planned to move potable water from the plains of St Elizabeth, up Spur Tree, and into Mandeville.

But Phillips, who has long advocated that communities along the main pipeline of the Greater Mandeville Water Supply Improvement Project not be ignored, doubled down on his point.

“There is nothing wrong with the upgrade of the water system going into Mandeville [but] I think it would be a grave injustice to those residents that Mandeville would be supplied with water and those communities would not get water,” he said.

The Pepper well field, down slope at low altitude in St Elizabeth, is the main source of water for Mandeville, which is more than 2,000 feet above sea level, atop the Manchester Plateau.

But Phillips noted that several communities near Pepper are without potable water.

“It is similar situation in a part of the constituency down in Pepper where the water is leaving St Elizabeth, coming through a section of Manchester, and then you have places like Mountain Valley — which the main [pipeline] is passing –– and they do not have running water. So those are some of the things that I would love to see a considerable [amount of attention] being given to,” said Phillips.

Mandeville and surrounding communities have struggled with water shortage for decades, with town elders insisting that the problem has hindered growth.

Many households in Manchester, and the wider south-central Jamaica, have had to rely on rainwater harvesting.

The long-standing issue of water supply has not only affected households, but commerce, with businesses suffering from the inconsistency in supply.

Phillips is calling on the National Water Commission (NWC) and the Government to provide updates on the progress of the Mandeville water project and a timeline for when roads which were dug up for pipe-laying are to be repaired.

“The phase that has been completed that goes through a section of my constituency, the Hopeton area, seems [to have been] completed for several months because there has been no consultation with me as Member of Parliament. I have to be asking the NWC from time to time what is happening,” he said.

“The roads were dug up, they have been left in a very deplorable condition, and the residents are peeved –– and myself as Member of Parliament ––– because we have not been able to get an update on that section that is supposed to have been completed,” added Phillips.

During the campaign leading up to the September 3 General Election Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness announced that residents of Manchester will benefit from another phase of the Greater Mandeville Water Supply Improvement Project, and promised to deliver the precious commodity to the entire parish.

However Phillips is also calling for the start of the Union/ Balaclava water supply improvement project.

“There is a project that was proposed [over] three years ago which is the main water project coming from Union, re-piping from there to Balaclava, going into communities like Oxford, Comfort Hall and Evergreen,” said Phillips.

“It was this financial year that we heard that money has now been approved, after three years of consultation. Not much communication is being had with me as Member of Parliament–– we only hear when an announcement is made in Parliament –– so I couldn’t say if the pipes are in the island [or] when they are going to start. That is affecting those communities in north-west Manchester. We have been [supplied] by the Union well,” he said.

“Over the last several years we have not been able to get regular water supply in those areas. It is very inconsistent. The lower section of Comfort Hall rarely gets water, and it is because the non-revenue water –– and when they are regulating the Manchester side vis-à-vis the St Elizabeth side that is when they are switching where gets and when –– by the time it is regulated we generally don’t get on the Manchester side for any protracted period of time,” added Phillips.

In this 2023 file photo, minister with responsibility for water Matthew Samuda (left), Member of Parliament for Manchester Central Rhoda Moy Crawford, and National Water Commission Regional Manager Jermaine Jackson tour the Hopeton to Waltham leg of the Greater Mandeville Water Supply Improvement Project.