MINISTER with responsibility for water Matthew Samuda has promised Jamaicans in small districts — who are still without the precious commodity following disruptions to the system caused by Hurricane Melissa in October 2025 — that help will be coming through the municipal authorities.

Addressing a post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew on Wednesday, Samuda said an assessment has shown that the municipal water systems that serve many small rural communities were devastated by Melissa.

He pointed out that municipal water systems supply approximately 15 per cent of citizens, and while the eastern rural systems for the most part are largely back up, more than 90 per cent of these systems had been in disrepair before the passage of the hurricane on October 28, meaning that a significant overhaul is needed.

“Now what does that mean for those who are without water? Very simply, it means that in the west we will have to roll out a major injection of engineering focus to bring these small systems in very small districts back up to operating capacity, and that will take significant time. In the interim, I have directed that allocations be made to the parish councils out of what we would have allocated for water trucking, which was some $400 million announced in December,” Samuda told the briefing.

“We will be making an allocation to each of the parish councils in the areas most affected [by Melissa] to deal with these small districts. We will publish those numbers later this week…but we want to assure citizens that may be listening or watching in these small districts that, yes, there will be challenges for the coming months, but, no, you will not be left alone to purely purchase this water by yourself. We will work with our parish councils to significantly increase their capacity for trucking because it will require increased trucking in these districts,” added Samuda.

He said a full update on the damage to these small water systems will be presented to the country through Parliament in the next two weeks.

“These systems that are largely managed by municipal corporations, we will need a new paradigm as we go forward. The Prime Minister [Dr Andrew Holness] has been clear that we will need to build back better. We will also need to operate better, and we’ll have to look at a new model for our very small rural systems that are served by parish councils. That new model is twofold one,” Samuda outlined.

He said discussions will be held with Finance Minister Fayval Williams and Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie given the “significant resource injection” that will be required.

“We’ll provide an update in terms of what that looks like. But beyond that, and for your update, the Government of Jamaica will pursue a new social water policy as an addendum to the water policy of Jamaica that will govern how we manage these small systems because, as we’ve seen, from east to west, north to south, many of them are in a state of disrepair pre-Melissa.

“So even though they have been restored — God bless the level of restoration — we have a lot of work to undertake over the next three to four years on the policy framework on the funding model for these and a lot of engineering work to do,” Samuda declared.

He also told the media briefing that there will need to be significant training for the operators of the water systems which are outside the utility footprint.

According to Samuda, so far 93.5 per cent of customers served by the National Water Commission have been restored following the passage of the Category 5 system, with full restoration in Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine, Manchester, St Thomas, Portland, and St Mary.

However, 33,746 NWC customers are still experiencing disruptions mainly in the western end of the island, according to Samuda.

He said while some 588 systems have been restored, there are still 133 down. This translates to 2,865 customers not yet restored in St James; 7,140 in Hanover; 9,200 in Westmoreland; 12,455 in St Elizabeth; and 940 in Trelawny.