Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator Pearnel Charles Jr, says more enforcement is needed to protect the nation’s water assets from violations.

Senator Charles, who was speaking recently with stakeholders at the Manchester Municipal Corporation in Mandeville, where he addressed water challenges affecting communities in the parish, said there have been many occasions where water pipelines are breached by citizens and are not reported.

This, he said, compromises reliable access to the precious commodity for law-abiding residents, particularly those living in communities facing water challenges.

“Breaches of pipelines have caused hundreds of persons to be cut off from water sources, and so we have asked the police to engage in these meetings, so that we can focus not only on distribution but on the enforcement aspect of protecting our water assets,” said the minister.

He pointed out that some people breach the pipelines to water their plants and gardens, wash their cars, and sometimes use the water for their own domestic purposes.

Senator Charles said that ramping up enforcement against the breaches is crucial to providing piped water to communities.

“I will also ask the councillors if they are seeing that in their own divisions and if it is being reported. That is also a concern. Many times it is not reported, and so the police don’t take any action,” he noted.

Responding, Deputy Superintendent of Police Lloyd Terby said lawmen have recently been engaging in a number of joint operations with the National Water Commission (NWC) to enforce the law against breaches in the parish.

“We will continue to have such operations, and I am encouraging the political representatives here to get in touch with the police if they see any breaches which prevent some citizens from receiving water,” he said.