Drought-busting
Government looking to address water recovery issues as gallons go to waste when it rains
Minister of state in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Leslie Campbell says the Government is supporting studies of the country’s water resources to address the yearly water problems.
“I don’t know the details regarding the orders, but I know the relevant studies are being done, particularly as they relate to the water resources,” Campbell told the Senate yesterday, as it affirmed the Colbeck (Irrigation Area) Order, 2020.
He said that one of the features of the Colbeck Irrigation System in St Catherine is the presence of a production well with a capacity for 1.2 million US gallons of water daily.
It takes just about 1 million US gallons of water to fill a swimming pool that would be 81 metres long, 15 metres wide, and three metres deep.
Campbell noted that the Colbeck Irrigation Order is the second one to be brought to Parliament for affirmation since October, when a similar order for Spring Garden, Portland, was affirmed by the Senate, following the decision to declare the new irrigation area, inclusive of Buff Bay, Orange Bay, the western side of the Spanish River, and the Spring Garden Road.
But Opposition Senator Lambert Brown suggested that instead of bringing the single orders to the Parliament for approval, the Government should speed up the process of expanding the irrigation system and take all the orders to Parliament at the same time.
“This order has come pretty quickly after the Portland order, and we wonder if there are more of these orders in store. We should just bring all of them here at one time,” declared Brown.
He argued that the water produced by the recent downpour, which has flooded numerous areas and destroyed some of the island’s infrastructure, should be harnessed, primarily to meet the needs of the farmers, to help mitigate the effects the drought periods the island faces annually.
He suggested that the Government give consideration to how the floodwaters can be harnessed and provide farmers with irrigation water during the drought periods.
Brown was supported by Government Senator Don Wehby, who noted that droughts have continued to affect farmers and, in turn, food sustainability, and there is a need for the country to be able to recover significant and excessive rainfall across the island.
“My point is that the agricultural sector must remain sustainable, and the question is how we can use the excessive rainfall to the farmers’ advantage,” said Wehby.
Like the Essex Valley order approved by Parliament in mid-october, the Colbeck order is one of the latest developments in the National Irrigation Commission’s (NIC) efforts to provide farmers with an efficient supply of water for irrigation.
The NIC’S infrastructure includes wells, pump houses, power supply, pipe networks, pumping equipment, and on-farm systems in the Yallahs, Colbeck, New Forrest/duff House, Essex Valley, Spring Garden, and Saint Dorothy irrigation areas.
The commission has already seen a steady improvement in the recovery of water (volume of water invoiced vs the volume produced) over the past three years, which is now at 70 per cent, but it is aiming for a 75 per cent recovery rate.
According to the NIC, in order to increase and maintain this recovery rate and achieve its target, continuous canal improvement is required to reduce water loss from derelict structures.
A strategy was developed by the NIC to rehabilitate 2.5 km of canals in two of its regions during the 2019/20 financial year.