Drought affecting 107 NWC systems

The National Water Commission (NWC) is reporting that 107 of its systems are being impacted by the drought conditions, at varying stages.

Acting Vice President, Operations, NWC, Dr Phillipa Campbell-Francis, gave the update during an Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) webinar yesterday.

“We have some facilities that are at zero per cent and some at 40 per cent from this list of impacted systems. The primary concern though is in Kingston, St Andrew, St Thomas and in the northeast region where we are seeing most of our facilities or smaller facilities, and in the case of Kingston, our major facilities impacted by drought,” Campbell-Francis stated.

She informed that the Hermitage Dam is currently at 40.2 per cent and the Mona Dam at 33.7 per cent. She added that the Seaview Water Treatment plant as well as the Hope Treatment Plant are also severely impacted by the drought. Campbell-Francis stressed that the most important thing for the NWC during this period is to ensure that service is delivered, and that every customer is served, whether through the pipelines or trucking.

To ensure that customers are properly served, Campbell- Francis said the NWC has been recommissioning its resting wells, trucking water, as well as pumping in areas “where you would have been gravity feeding before”. The NWC produces approximately 190 million gallons of water per day and serves two million customers.