ST JAMES, Jamaica – Work is expected to get under way shortly on the establishment of a water supply system in Norwood, St James, which will provide improved and reliable access to potable water for thousands of residents in the community.

This was disclosed by Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Matthew Samuda, after a tour of the area on May 18 to address water needs.

“This project [in Norwood] is one that is very needed and we will be working with the technical team to put it together, and to pull down on our $7-billion capital budget this year to ensure that we start the work to bring relief to the 5,000 to 7,000 households that desperately need it,” Samuda said.

“Far too many households in the community are still without water despite the other infrastructural upgrades [that have taken place]. The National Water Commission has been deploying projects across the length and breadth of Jamaica at a rate that it previously wouldn’t be able to,” he noted.

Minister of National Security and Member of Parliament for St James North Western, Dr Horace Chang, explained that “the core water system in Norwood was laid down a couple years ago, but there is no distribution. The distribution is still a network of informal piping, so we are here to look at how we can correct that problem”.

He noted that most householders are getting water from an informal source that is unreliable.

“What they want is access, connection to homes, because while they have some [access) there, it is all informal and always unreliable. They are [getting supply] from Montego Hills and other areas where there might be a line. [The supply] is not only unreliable for them but it also renders the flow further up in Salt Spring and other areas impaired,” he pointed out.

– JIS