Water project is Independence gift for Flower Hill
AJ$110-MILLION water supply scheme may be an Independence Day gift for residents of Flower Hill in St James, says Audley Thompson, managing director of Rural Water Supply.
The timeline for completing this project is seven months, but crews will aim to expedite the works in time for August 6.
“We are trying to finish the project one month ahead of schedule, all the various contracts have been tendered and have been approved by our chairman, so there is nothing holding back this project,” said Thompson, who participated in last Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony. Coral Gardens will also benefit from the water supply system.
Since the late 1990s, Flower Hill residents have been complaining about the absence of potable water, forcing them to depend on rainfall or transport the commodity from downtown Montego Bay, approximately seven and a half miles away.
Thompson said that the new system will be structurally sound and sufficient to serve the communities, even if their population increases by 30 per cent over the next 50 years.
UPGRADING WORKS
In the 1990s, upgrading works were done on the Montego Bay water distribution system and the Great River water supply system was commissioned into operation, the Rural Water Supply managing director said. The two systems provided water for Flower Hill via pumping stations in the adjoining community of Salt Spring. That supply, however, was short-lived.
“What we will be doing now is taking water from the Martha Brae system [in Trelawny], but we will be carrying it from Coral Gardens, then we will be pumping it into two separate tanks,” Thompson said.
Montego Bay Mayor Homer Davis, who is chairman of Rural Water Supply Limited, said that he was looking forward to commissioning the new system so that residents can celebrate the nation’s 58th anniversary of Independence with water in their pipes.
Davis said the Coral GardensFlower Hill Water Supply System project was funded through the
Government’s Cap A programme and will consist of two relifting stations, storage tanks, and gravity lines, which will be fed with water from the greater Montego Bay water system.
The mayor further said that on completion of the project, an additional 540,000 litres or 120,000 imperial gallons of potable water will be pumped into Flower Hill and Top Salt Spring, which should satisfy the peak demand.