Pearnel Charles Jr, Minister with responsibility for water - file photo
.png)
00:00
00:00
00:00
Pearnel Charles Jr
Pearnel Charles Jr, the minister with responsibility for water, is seeking to assure Jamaicans that the Government is responding to the water crisis caused by the prolonged drought.
Short term measures have been implemented included the trucking of water and scheduled lock-offs.
The National Water Commission (NWC) recently announced it would source water from the Rio Cobre and rehabilitated wells to ease the supply shortage in the Corporate Area.
Speaking on TVJ's Smile Jamaica programme Wednesday morning, Senator Charles Jr said, while the scheduled lock-offs are frustrating, the measure is necessary until there is an increase in rainfall.
However, he said based on forecasts, Jamaica should be seeing increased rainfall in the next two months, "which will in turn assist our rivers to push more flow into our systems and we'll be able to better deliver to our consumers and to the citizens."
In the meantime, Mr. Charles said the focus is now on developing systems that can ensure the regular supply of water during dry periods.
"We know the drought is going to be coming back, so what are we going to do? We have to build a system that is diversified, not as reliant on the surface water," he explained.
He said the government is also considering technology similar to the desalination of water.
comments powered by Disqus
All feeds
