WATER suppliers are struggling to keep pace with a surge in demand amid drought conditions, with one Manchester-based operator describing the current situation as the busiest he’s had in his 15 years of business.

Rohan Smith, owner of Rohan’s Water Truck in Mandeville, said the demand has become so intense that customers are calling at least once every day to refill.

“It’s really overwhelming. It’s the craziest I’ve ever seen it. It’s like everybody wants water every day. No matter how you give them water today, by tomorrow they [call] back. I’ve been in the business for 15 years, and this is the craziest I’ve ever seen it,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

His experience reflects the pressure placed on alternative water suppliers as Jamaica continues to grapple with drought conditions and restrictions on water use.

According to the latest update from the National Water Commission (NWC), 99 of its 450 water supply systems are being affected by drought conditions, representing approximately 22 per cent of systems nationally.

Additionally, water levels at two of the country’s main storage sources are also low. Hermitage Dam stood at 40.3 per cent as of September 25, while the Mona Reservoir stood at 34.1 per cent.

Smith said the situation in Mandeville is being compounded by the number of trucks competing for access to NWC loading bays.

“You find that when you go to get a load it takes forever. You have to wait an hour or hour and a half just to get one load of water, so you can’t move as fast as you want to, but the demand is very high so we can’t supply our customers. I am one of the truckers who supply our hospitals with water, and so I have to treat them as a priority. I have to make sure they get water on a regular basis, and that’s really hard to do,” said Smith.

He shared that he operates two trucks, each with a capacity of about 4,000 gallons of water. He said he often supplies hospitals with two loads per day, and is sometimes even on standby if supply becomes critical. According to Smith, on average, he refills his trucks 15 to 30 times a week.

He said the demand is so high that he sometimes has to defer customers when they request water. He said the surge has also forced him to concentrate his operations in Manchester.

“I get calls from out of parish, but I can’t leave Mandeville to go out of parish to do work when work is here…It’s a lot of trucks, and we still can’t keep up,” said Smith.

Although demand is high, Smith said fuel prices are eating into profits. He told the Sunday Observer that filling up on fuel for one of his trucks can cost more than $10,000 per day, depending on where he purchases fuel and how often the motor vehicles are used.

Smith said access to drivers is also a main concern that is affecting his ability to expand his business to meet the demand.

“The drivers are not reliable. I don’t know if it’s the generation or what, but these drivers nowadays, they start work this week, and they do good, next week they mess up, the other week they don’t want to work. They don’t try to care for the vehicle, and they always want to be speeding to prove to their friends that they can drive, and it’s just all kinds of stuff.

“It’s hard for you to buy a five- or seven-million-dollar vehicle just for them to try and prove to their friends that they can drive and mash up your vehicle; that doesn’t make sense for me,” he said, noting that other water trucking companies are having similar experiences.

Despite the mounting operating cost, Smith said he recognises the importance of the service and will continue to provide it to those in need.

“Water is life, and people need water. There is no substitute for water, and the people need the water, so we just have to price them as best as possible,” he said, expressing hope that fuel prices will eventually decline.

While the demand for trucked water is not as high in Montego Bay, St James, one water truck operator said the cost of fuel has changed how he operates his business.

“That [fuel cost] is the reason why I don’t really move on the house-to-house calls, because it nuh make no sense I drive to fill up $650 [worth of water] at this house and then do another $650 at another house. Fuel cost is too high to do that. We only drive out for requests for 2,000 gallons of water and up,” the operator told the Sunday Observer.

He noted that, currently, he mainly supplies hotels and health-care facilities with water, banking on contracts with government agencies to make the trips worthwhile.

The operator shared that his trucks can carry up to 4,000 gallons of water and are sterilised, in keeping with local regulations. However, he expressed concern that not all water trucking companies are compliant.

“They say they want us to sterilise our trucks and do all the necessary things to keep up with the specifications of the Government. You sterilise your truck, and then you have all four or five trucks just running freely without any sterilisation. It’s a double standard. It nuh make no sense they tell us to regulate our trucks and then we spend so much money to regulate the trucks and then you have other truckers just running free,” he said, expressing frustration.

He shared that he spends around $50,000 to sterilise his trucks so that he can utilise the NWC loading bays in the parish, a cost he said some truckers do not pay while still reaping the profits.

“The water system needs to be properly regulated,” he advocated.

Meanwhile, one water purification company in St Catherine is feeling the effects of inconsistent supply from the NWC.

Shaneil Brown, an employee at Kleen Water Purification Company, said the demand for water is higher than usual as customers seek to beat the heat.

“There is a huge demand with people wanting water. It’s higher than normal, but it is expected because we are in drought and heat conditions, so people run out of water quicker,” she told the Sunday
Observer.

Brown said the company normally obtains water from the NWC, but fluctuations in supply and water pressure can create challenges.

“From the other day, you have times when the water pressure will be low, so that impacts business, and so we have to find ways around it because we are a water company so we have to have water,” said Brown.

She said, in these instances, they have to rely on water from trucking companies, many of which are reliable, but it comes at an added expense to the company.

“We are hopeful that the conditions can improve, but we are grateful for the business that the drought brings,” she said.