Hanover water crisis hitting hard

WESTERN BUREAU: MORE THAN 2,000 residents from several adjoining communities in eastern Hanover have been looking up to the skies with glee and thankfulness for the rains over the last week. Their scrounging around for the precious commodity – water – has been temporarily halted.

At a Community Development Committee meeting, held in Hopewell recently, it was reported that for weeks, and in some cases for months, the communities of New Mills, Haddington, Cacoon, Temple, Welcome and Round Hill Drive have been without, or, in some cases, only getting an intermittent supply of water through their pipes.

Courtney Hudson, chairman of the Development Area Committee, which covers the areas listed, expressed disgust at the situation, adding that the National Water Commission (NWC) was not showing enough interest in finding a solution to the situation. He said that there was a water source with the necessary piping in the areas, but no water is flowing through the pipes.

AUTOMATED SYSTEM

“The New Mills Pump is working, but the water is not reaching the tank and people are having to be creative to get some water,” said Hudson.

When The Gleaner checked with Donovan Nicholson, the NWC supervisor for water production in the parish, he explained that “it is because of the drought situation affecting the parish why there is a shortage of the commodity in those areas”.

“The drought has caused the flow from the source to have lessened, and the system in place is automated, so when the water levels at the source drops, the pump will automatically turn off. When the water levels rise, it will automatically turn itself on,” explained Hudson.

Hudson also noted the claim that some people were tapping into the water main that carries the water from the pump to the tank. That, he said, could be a reason why not enough water was reaching the tank so that it can gravity feed the area.

However, residents are contending that there seems to be a blockage in the line why the water is not reaching the tank. They said that the pump works and there was water in the line, but none reaching the tank.

The New Mills Pump is working, but the water is not reaching the tank and people are having to be creative to get some water.”