MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Mayor of Mandeville Donovan Mitchell has renewed calls for the Government to tap into wells at Porus to provide more water to residents amid the drought now facing the south-central parish.

“There has to be some serious dialogue about water for the parish. I know they said water for Manchester is very expensive — it is not that Manchester doesn’t have water — [and] I have said it over and over again that the Government needs to take the bull by the horn. In Porus there are a number of wells…which are not being utilised,” charged Mitchell during last Thursday’s sitting of the Manchester Municipal Corporation.

He pointed to a long-standing proposal that wells which were used to supply water to the now-mothballed Windalco/Kirkvine bauxite/alumina plant be tapped into to help alleviate Manchester’s water crisis.

“It is simple: The Government must take [the wells] and give people the water. There is a lot of water down there. Manchester shouldn’t be having the serious problem that it is having now,” added Mitchell.

The Pepper well field, downslope 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.

Last year work commenced on the Pepper to Gutters Transmission Project as part of a key component of the $4-billion Greater Mandeville Water Supply Improvement Project.

During last Thursday’s meeting Mitchell, while commending the National Water Commission for fulfilling a directive to ensure schools have water, said more needs to be done to alleviate water woes.

“As a council we actually buy water from the water commission, and most times it is NWC customers who we have to be servicing. There needs to be some dialogue as to the way forward. I am glad that the NWC has made the decision for the schools to get water,” he said.

Manchester, which depends heavily on rainwater harvesting, is among parishes warned for water restrictions amid the drought and severe heat brought on by Super El Niño weather conditions.

Councillors in the parish on last Thursday called for more trucking of water to communities.

Councillor David Knight (People’s National Party, Walderston Division) and Councillor Karl Smith (PNP, Knockpatrick Division) raised concerns over the alleged partisan distribution of the precious commodity.

According to Knight, he received reports of a political activist being on a water truck recently during drought relief activities.

“We at Walderston do not have sufficient NWC water so we depend on rainfall or the trucking of water. When I get three loads of water it cannot serve all the wayside tanks that I have in my division… There are still communities without water. I was told that the Member of Parliament (MP) [Audrey Marks] would distribute water throughout the constituency… I was told that a truck went into a particular community and an activist was on that truck telling the driver where to distribute the water to,” said Knight.

“There was another truck that went into a space in my division, and it went to a particular house, and yet there are people who are badly in need of the commodity,” he added.

In response to Knight the council’s Minority Leader Omar Miller (Jamaica Labour Party, Craighead Division) said political partiality in water distribution is not tolerated by the MP for Manchester North Eastern Marks.

“I saw a programme from the MP to distribute 30 loads of water, but to actually get the trucking to be done, it is at times difficult because the trucker [prioritises] private sales. Cash in hand is always better than a promise or a bill to be paid,” said Miller.

“I can speak for the MP as it relates to partiality that she is not one of those persons. If it was distributed unfairly we will have to look into what took place there,” Miller added.