THE Government will be pumping another $100 million into trucking water to residents in rural areas who are badly impacted by the meteorological drought Jamaica is now experiencing.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who made the announcement during a press conference at Office of the Prime Minister in St Andrew on Friday, said the additional funds are being provided since an initial provision of $50 million for the exercise was deemed inadequate, particularly since the meteorological drought has worsened as rainfall continues to decline.

He explained that a meteorological drought means that the level of rainfall is so low that it is affecting the flow of water, “and this is particularly the case for communities that are dependent on catchments, for example”.

“The people who are in rural areas who depend on rainwater catchment, or have water systems that depend on catchment, are starting to feel the impact of the drought,” he said.

He said the money for trucking water, which will be channelled through the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, will be provided to those deemed most in need “so that we maximise the value of the response”.

“We are going to concentrate on the rural areas that are impacted because we still have sufficient supplies in our catchment, and in our treatment facilities, and in our reservoirs — even though some of them are showing decline. The utility areas, meaning the areas served largely by the National Water Commission (NWC) through metered water, are not affected as badly as the rural areas, and so for this phase of our drought response we are going to be focusing on the rural parishes and we will be directing the funds by need,” he said.

He noted that Members of Parliament will get an allocation through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), “but only in the parishes that have been assessed as being in need, so that we can give maximum attention to those areas. I know that there are some communities that are particularly badly affected”.

He noted, however, that there are urban communities affected such as those that depend on catchments or on water systems that are not part of the NWC’s system and that “they too will get support”.

In the meantime, the prime mnister said new water trucks are being acquired by the NWC to bolster its capacity to truck water.

“In November last year we took receipt of eight new water trucks, so your Government has been increasing our capacity to respond to this crisis. These eight trucks are with the NWC and we have another eight [trucks]…that we are in the process of purchasing. In addition to that, there are some parish councils that have been provided with trucks,” he said.

The prime minister further noted that the Government has also commissioned a new water truck for the Corporate Area.

In the meantime, Holness encouraged citizens to conserve on their use of water as a means of mitigatating the impact of the drought.

“We are not yet at the point where we would declare certain orders in terms of the usage of water, but we could get there. Before we get there I would urge consumers to, for example, reduce the number of times you wash your car; reduce the amount of water you use in watering your lawns; make sure that if you are not using the tank, you turn it off; check your homes for leaks. If you can, start to collect whatever rainwater you can,” he said.

While acknowledging that “from a [low] rainfall standpoint we are in a crisis” and the situation is of concern, “it is not one in which I would say we should panic but we are being proactive, we are preparing the country, and we trying to bring our citizens into the understanding of the changes that are taking place in our climate and how it will impact your daily lives and your social well-being” .

According to the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, 11 parishes are being affected by the meteorological drought.

In his presentation Met Office head, Evan Thompson noted that St Thomas, Portland and St Mary were the parishes that experienced exceptionally dry conditions during the months of December and January.