'Usain had to go over three miles for a bath' ...

WESTERN BUREAU:

Residents of Sherwood Content in Trelawny say that they are prepared to take their troubles to the international community after waiting all their lives to have potable water in their pipes.

"We are suffering in this community," said Wellesley Bolt, father of track star Usain. "We need them to address at least the basic challenges we are faced with here or we are going to go to appeal to the United Nations or (individual) foreign countries for assistance."

According to the senior Bolt, the National Water Commission started work in the area, with the help of beer giant Red Stripe, who contributed $20 million. But while pipes were laid in the area, there has been no water for the past two years.

In his 55 years in the community, water only came through the pipes once for a week during the euphoria that followed his son's record-breaking performances at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany.

"The last time Usain was here he had to go three and a half miles to Windsor to have a bath, and for me, this is unacceptable," he stated.

At 74 years old, Kingsley Titer cannot recall experiencing the flow of fresh water in his pipes. He, too, has had to install water tanks at his home, which also serve others unable to make the almost four-mile trek to the nearest water source.

Trucking expensive

"If we don't get rain, we have to be purchasing water, which can average about $15,000 each trip," he said, "I am concerned that our students have to be using a pit latrine at our school, the very school the Olympic champion, who brought so much glory to Jamaica, attended."

Sherwood Content has approximately 2,000 residents and encompasses a number of contiguous areas including Coxheath, Bottom Town, Central, Top Town, and Piedmont.

For Bolt and Titer, none of the political parties will get any support from the area, but Dr Patrick Harris, who has been the member of parliament of Northern Trelawny since 2002, is penitent.

Harris told Western Focus that the situation is complicated, and one that he would wish to rectify before demitting office.

"The situation in Sherwood is a personal embarrassment, but the fact is that immediately after the system was designed and put in, there were the heavy rains and a hydrogeological shift in the rock formation, and this rendered the water turbid at the slightest drizzle," explained Harris.

"What this means is that the National Water Commission cannot pump it to them; they have to turn it off. Additional filters had to be put in, but even that is not adequate. The system is plagued with other problems as well, especially electricity."

Chairman of the Trelawny Parish Council, Mayor Collen Gager, could not shed any light on the problem, except that the truck servicing the area was not working.

The road to the popular Trelawny community is also in a state of disrepair. The inconsistent collection of garbage is also a sore point for the residents.