A slice of paradise in Above Rocks
IT WAS more than 20 years ago when a serious weather system disrupted sections of the National Water Commission (NWC) distribution network, dislocating the portion that served the home of Samuel ‘Dickie’ Douglas and his wife Peaches in the Palm Mount section of Above Rocks, St Andrew.
Fed up with the consistently poor service they had been receiving for years, a disgruntled Douglas decided to take things into his own hands and looked into accessing a water source from their own property, the Desporte Spring, which was fed by a source from up in the Gordon Valley that ran adjacent to the property on which he was raised.
In days gone by, whenever it rained, the water from the spring would flood the roadway, temporarily rendering the road impassable, but that problem was resolved when the authorities put in a large culvert to channel the water under the road and on to the Douglas’ property. That was a long time ago and the spring has never run dry, even though the level of water it produced this year was the lowest ever. Over the many years, it has produced many crawfish, some “as big as lobsters,” according to Dickie
Since then, that spring has served as a source of piped water and immense satisfaction for the couple, who now pride themselves that they have been independent of the NWC for quite some time.
Dickie, who is an electrical engineer by training, admits that he has destroyed at least four pumps in his earlier efforts to pipe water from the spring to their house, which is on elevated, hilly terrain. By now he has mastered the problem and installed a lift pump to take the water from the spring, and a compressor pump and filters at the house, to make it palatable for household use.
Between the spring and his pumps, the Douglases now have more than enough water to maintain Dickie’s farming exploits, which include a year-round supply of banana, breadfruit, jackfruit, oranges, coconuts, yam, guava, tangerine and much more, as well as Peaches’ flower garden, which boasts an abundance of Joseph’s Coat.
“The pump has served us well,” Dickie told The Gleaner, adding that he still used to receive bills from the NWC, even though he has not been connected to their system for decades and is now fully satisfied with that particular investment.
CITY LIFE
In chatting with The Gleaner, Dickie admitted that having grown up in Above Rocks, at one point during the heady days of his youth, he grew tired of the country life and moved to the Corporate Area, where was so infected by the Kingston bug that he developed a Kingston accent, discarding his original way of speaking. However, commonsense prevailed and city life soon lost its lure for the country boy.
These days, he and Peaches are content to enjoy their slice of paradise atop Palm Mount, enjoying the fruits of their labour and a cool sip of spring water.