Health inspector pushes for piped water to reduce mosquito breeding
Published:Thursday | October 19, 2023 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
ST JAMES Public Health Inspector Sherika Lewis wants more effort done to ensure all communities in the parish have access to piped water, in order to reduce the likelihood of households storing water in containers that may breed mosquitoes amid the current dengue outbreak.
Lewis made the recommendation while addressing last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC), where she revealed that St James’ current Aedes index, which measures the growth of the local mosquito population, was recorded at 15 per cent for September.
This is a steady increase over the nine per cent rate in July and 12 per cent in August.
“One of the things we are seeing is that the lack of running water in pipes into homes causes persons to store water. The practices [to prevent dengue spread] are there, as they are cleaning their yards and they are trying their best to control their containers; but the water distribution, or lack thereof, is one of the main causes of concern,” said Lewis.
“Outside of the dengue outbreak, I hope that the municipal corporation will look into how to get more piped water into various communities, particularly the Cambridge and Maroon Town areas. The main focus is the 45-gallon and 50-gallon containers, because persons tend to store more water,” Lewis explained.
“We continue to encourage persons in how to treat their water-holding containers; they are to cover them with a tight lid, because the female mosquito will lay her eggs above the surface of water-holding containers, whether they are wet or dry.”
Lewis’ recommendation comes one month after Matthew Samuda, the minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, and St James East Central Member of Parliament (MP) Edmund Bartlett jointly announced that several communities in the constituency would benefit from the projected completion of $600 million worth of rehabilitation work on the Rhyne Park water-pumping system by the end of September.
That water system, along with the Cedar Hill water system based in Somerton, is expected to provide a steady supply of water to communities that have had a history of inconsistent water supply.
Communities which are to benefit from both systems include Rose Hall, Palmyra, Paisley, Mt Zion, King Gate, Greenwood, Adelphi, Somerton, Orange and Over River.
In the meantime, Councillor Dwight Crawford, the StJMC’s councillor for the Spring Garden Division, noted that residents across St James often have no choice but to rely on stored water for various activities around their homes, including farming.
“Have you seen where homeowners and residents in and around the city space are playing their part? Have you been seeing a trend of vigilance from homeowners, or are you seeing the opposite of that? I would like to know if we are playing our part as citizens … some places do not have water and they have to store water, and it is necessary for some people, even those who do have water, to store water for farming and a lot of other things,” Crawford pointed out.
“Some persons depend on the rainfall to fill these containers, so what we recommend is to get an unused curtain and just put it over the mouth or opening of the drums and secure it with a piece of cord, and that will allow the rainwater to come in. Each time you use the water, you just replace the curtain, because what we do not want is for the female mosquito to have access to the container,” Lewis replied.
During September, the St James Health Department inspected 12,490 premises, of which 1,836 were found to be breeding sites for mosquitoes. Additionally, 42,529 containers were found at the various premises, of which 3,891 were found to be breeding mosquitoes.
The health department is set to receive 80 vector control task workers to complement its current cohort of 35 temporary task workers in the ongoing fight against the spread of dengue fever.