Mandeville to get steady water by Christmas

Mandeville will get a more reliable water supply before Christmas, ending years of shortages in that town, Water, Environment and Climate Change Minister Matthew Samuda said on Thursday.

It aims to solve the challenges of inconsistent water supply, which could spur further real estate developments.

Crews are close to finishing a transmission main that moves water from the Pepper wells in neighbouring St Elizabeth up Spur Tree Hill through Gutters and into Mandeville, Samuda told a Jamaica Developers’ Association webinar on real estate development. Work in the area so far has cost about $2.8 billion.

“[It is] expected to come online before Christmas this year,” he said.

Developers have long cited the town’s unreliable supply as a constraint on projects in Manchester.

In March this year, Samuda, speaking in Parliament, said the Greater Mandeville Water Supply Scheme was 70 per cent complete and was expected to take between 18 and 30 months for completion.

Samuda told Parliament in March that the wider Greater Mandeville Water Supply Scheme stood at 70 per cent complete and would take 18 to 30 months to finish.

On national supply, Samuda said Jamaica holds far more water than it needs but lacks adequate infrastructure. Jamaica has underinvested in the sector for the last 80 years, he added.

“The last study done of Jamaica’s potable water prospects (shows) we’re still a land of wood and water,” he said, explaining that there is five times more water than the national demand.

“We have 500 per cent of the fresh water we need for irrigation and potable water,” he said.

Kingston and St Andrew now draw less water than a decade ago after the authorities cut leakage, the minister said. He wants losses down to between 20 and 25 per cent under a US$300-million programme backed by the World Bank.

Less thirsty Kingston

The minister said Kingston and St Andrew have reduced their water demand because leaks have been reduced by one-third, but a US$300 million World Bank-supported programme aims to cut leakages in half.

He added that a decade ago, Kingston and St Andrew required 60 million gallons a day to supply demand.

“Today, we require 50 million gallons a day to supply demand (to Kingston and St Andrew). If you think of all of the housing development, all of the commercial development that has taken place in Kingston and St Andrew, today, we need 10 million gallons less than we did 10 years ago. That has been achieved on the back of significant leak reduction in Kingston and St Andrew,” Samuda said.

The minister also noted that the Rio Cobre Treatment Plant in St Catherine is expected to bring 15 million gallons of water to Kingston and St Andrew. In July, Samuda said the project was on track for completion in May next year.

Samuda also disclosed that the Government was contemplating a 200 per cent increase in the capacity of the Hermitage Dam, one of the two major sources of water in the capital city.

“We’re working with the World Bank for the financing associated with that project, which is assessed to be in the range of 250 million US dollars,” the water minister said.

The Hermitage Dam in Jamaica has a total storage capacity of 393.5 million gallons according to the National Water Commission’s reservoir data. A 200 per cent increase would put its capacity at 787 million gallons.

The Mona Reservoir, the other major source of water in Kingston and St Andrew, is much larger with a capacity of 808.5 million gallons.

Major sewerage investments are also being pursued in Montego Bay, Negril, Falmouth, St Ann, and well as Soapberry just outside Kingston, Samuda said.

luke.douglas@gleanerjm.com