Go easy on water, says NWC, despite storage at full capacity
THE National Water Commission (NWC) is chanting conservation, even as storage at the Corporate Area’s two main supply facilities has reached capacity.
Corporate communications manager at the NWC Andrew Canon said that despite the Mona Reservoir and Hermitage Dam being at 100 per cent capacity, customers should the mindful of their water consumption and refrain from wasting the commodity.
“It’s very good that we have the levels at a very healthy number. This is where we want it to be. But this by no means is an indication that persons should be wasting water... This is of course good news for our customers in the capital and the rest of the Corporate Area,” Canon told the Jamaica Observer.
“However, I must hasten to add,” he went on, “the Christmas season is fastly approaching and it is a time when we see a lot of demand for water, especially at the household level. So, persons must not get complacent in terms of not conserving water because we are expecting demand during the Christmas season as more persons will be home,” Canon told the Sunday Observer.
Emphasising that the pandemic has resulted in more people being at home, Canon said, “based on this, a number of persons are at home and not only adults but students participating in online learning activities. It therefore means that when persons are at home, when children are at home, there is the great probability of more water being used.”
As such he said, “we are seeing many of our customers coming to us wondering why their bills are at a particular level and some of them don’t seem to be aware of their consumption patterns. So, we are still urging persons to conserve,” the NWC executive stated.
Canon went on to explain that the rain that Jamaica has experienced over the past weeks has contributed to the dam and reservoir reaching full capacity.
However, he advised, “we are still in the hurricane season and if we should be hit by a major tropical storm or hurricane, as part of what [occurs] during a hurricane period, we have to shut down the pumping stations and shut down the supply systems.”
Additionally, Canon said at this time, the NWC had no plans to restrict water to certain areas.
“Despite the fact that we have no plans for restrictions, as part of our constant water management we always are telling our customers to converse as best as we can,” Canon reiterated.
“These are things that we have to be mindful of. Even though the water levels are at healthy capacities, anything can happen at any time where a hurricane is concerned. So persons must still be very, very careful in terms of storing as best as they can, just in case and also conserve as best as they can,” he continued.