Rain a fall, but dutty tuff

THE EDITOR, Sir: I AM very concerned about the state of our infrastructure in Portland. For many years and alternate administrations, the people of Portland have received promise after promise of what is to be improved, in exchange for votes. Well, I don’t think we buy any of that anymore. Low voter turnout and lack of interest over the last few election cycles should tell our politicians something. But will they listen to the screaming message we are sending?

My most burning concern is the scarcity of water. How can we justify major urban centres/towns receiving water once or twice per week? How can the parish in which “rain was invented” have a scarcity of water? This has been going on for decades.

We can make excuses in the name of drought, El Niño, and climate change, but there are other factors involved. There is obvious mismanagement and lack of care at the root of the problem. There has been no effort to increase our capacity for the nation at large, since the ’70s. There has been very little discussion of utilising our groundwater sources/wells. That was just an idea flouted by someone who knows a little geology. Nobody wants to take on the task. No one is talking about it.

It has become one of those things that defines our new normal, our retrograde standard of living.

It is very unsettling that we have not heard of a plan being put forward. Funding has not been sought or discussed. We are just going along with this standard, thinking that “every little thing’s gonna be alright”. It is not alright. It is not irie. It is backward! We put out the best for our tourists. We need to do the same for our citizens.

What are the leaders of the ‘land of wood and water’ doing?

It’s more like the ‘land of dry bones’. ANN PORTLAND Dolphin Circle Port Antonio