THE EDITOR, Sir:

Allow me to repeat my call for the National Water Commission (NWC) to make some effort to bring an end to the growing trend of estimated bills in eastern St Thomas.

Water problems have often been exacerbated by disasters such as hurricanes Gilbert in September 1988, Ivan in 2004 and Dean in 2007.

My questions to the NWC are:

(1) How do you arrive at estimated bills for your customers?

(2) Why is there no downward movement in estimated bills, even during and after hurricane-related shutdowns?

(3) Why are so many customers out of a meter for as long as even 10 years?

(4) How much longer will these customers have to wait for a meter to be installed so that the deadly disease of estimated bills destroying the economy of your customers be eradicated?

I am also calling on the authorities to take a good look on the amount of treated water that goes to waste each day because of broken water mains.

The communities of Top House and Holland Town in the Dalvey area of St Thomas are still without regular water supply. The NWC conducts temporary trucking of water in these areas, but sometimes they make no deliveries for up to two or three weeks. And when NWC personnel do come, they don't put water into all the rubber tanks; they put water only in a couple of drums.

Even without water in the pipelines, customers are getting water bills monthly above $1,000, without a downward movement. This has been going on for many years.

J.A. Bailey

Dalvey PO, St Thomas