NWC will no longer share water quality results to KSAMC after public 'embarrassment'

After facing public outrage over its internal report in March, Mayor of Kingston Andrew Swaby, says the National Water Commission (NWC) will stop providing water quality data to the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC).

The disclosure was made at today's monthly sitting of the KSAMC, where Swaby told councillors that representatives from the state-run utility company have not attended Public Health and Sanitation Committee meetings since it passed a resolution on water quality.

"[NWC] has since formally indicated that they will no longer be providing water quality results to the corporation," Swaby said.

Following the meeting, Swaby told The Gleaner that NWC said the public disclosure of the information and how it was handled caused the entity "embarrassment."

He said the corporation intends to respond to a letter from the NWC about the matter.

Opposition People's National Party Councillor Jesse James Clarke, a microbiology and food quality lecturer, raised concerns about the safety of the water in Kingston and St Andrew following the NWC report that was shared with the corporation.

Clarke, the KSAMC's public health committee chairman, said he has seen NWC test results from rural areas that showed contamination.

He said water samples returned a high number of positive results for faecal coliforms, a type of bacteria that indicates that the water has been contaminated with faeces, which could pose a serious public health concern.

However, the NWC asserted that its operations meet the highest safety and quality standards and that its water is "continually monitored, thoroughly tested, and is in full compliance with the guidelines established by the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) and international best practices set by the World Health Organization".

- Kimone Francis

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