By Leighton Williams and Rasbert Turner
Portmore Star Writers

Residents of Hellshire are upset that they are being sent high water bills although they have not been receiving water in their pipes for several months.

Councillor for the Hellshire division, Leon Thomas, raised the matter, which other councillors supported at a Portmore Municipal Council's monthly general meeting recently.

All councillors were concerned about what they said was 'the seemingly uncaring manner in which the National Water Commission (NWC) was dealing with the problem.'

According to Councillor Thomas, the company is still sending large bills to persons in Hellshire who have not received any water in their taps for months.

Councillor Thomas said the situation was made worse because of the recent strike by NWC workers. He added that when he checked the main pipes at Tulloch Spring, several were broken and water was running to waste.

He told the meeting that several letters written to the company, have not been answered and this could be deemed as disrespect to residents.

islandwide blackout

But Charles Buchanan, communications manager for the National Water Commission (NWC), said the disruption in water supply to the residents was due to the islandwide blackout and repairs to a pipeline in the area.

"We placed an ad in the paper saying that for one week there would be an interruption in service, because we were doing repairs to the Tulloch Spring pipeline. The power outage made our supply connection go out of whack, based on the timetable that was set for restoration," he said.

"We also had a problem, in that, while the power was restored to homes and the homeowners had electricity, the pumps would have still been out. But, we explained and apologised and trucks were sent to some of the areas," he said.

Councillor Thomas said, though, that a situation has existed for years where persons are getting dirty water through their taps. He said the community of Monza was the latest to have this problem.

Councillor Andrew Wheatly, who is in charge of the Naggo Head division, added that several areas along the Newland and Naggo Head roads were also having similar problems. He said invitations sent to the NWC for a meeting have not been answered.

All the councillors agreed that the situation needed to be addressed and Mayor George Lee promised to write to the water ministry to get redress on the matter. Mayor Lee said discussions were ongoing to deal with the problem.

previous months' bills

Meanwhile, in explaining the high bills, Buchanan said the bills the residents received for June or July would have been for previous months.

"In all instances, whenever a customer receives a bill, it is for water supplied two to three months before. In water supply, the customer is given service before making a payment. We usually supply water for a month and then there is a 21-day difference when the bill becomes overdue. Even if there was no water, customers would be receiving bills for service supplied in previous months," he said.