Christopher Burgess | Water poverty: droughts and drums

I remember having to catch water in drums from a neighbour’s hose for almost a year in a severe drought in the 1980s. It was peculiar that B St James Hamilton, permanent secretary for the Ministry of Education, home on the adjacent street in New Kingston had water, and we didn’t. Thank God our families were friends, and this made us privileged to a hose from his home for a few hours to fill drums. Statistics confirm the same struggle on a wider scale.

Forty years later, rural communities face the same hardship. Fibre optic cables run overhead, but the pipes below, if there are any, are dry. In many rural communities, trucked water is a lifeline for about 720,000 people routinely affected by water poverty. STATIN reports only 54 per cent of the rural population now having access to safe drinking water, down from 65 per cent, in 2015. The situation is worsening and comes with a steep price.

Water is life, and many are forced to pay five times more for black tanks, and drums, to be filled by expensive trucked water, than NWC usual rates, just to survive. Rural water supplies development has lagged and forces competition for untreated water in some parts. Rapid water supply development combined with government-led delivery will be key to lift our rural families out of water poverty.

COST OF WATER

In rural parts, most roofs are guttered to catch the scare rainfall, that feed black tanks and drums. But climate change exposes the limitations in the dry periods of December to March and June to August. When tanks and drums run dry, they must be filled by water taxis or trucks that come at a cost.

A truckload of water costs as much as J$25,000, and most household must stretch to afford it. This is five times more than the usual NWC rate and deepens rural poverty that is almost twice urban poverty rates. Some find J$7,000 just to buy 1,000 gallons that the World Health Organization says is the minimum for 2 weeks for the average family. In places like Mount Ararat and Douglas Castle in St Ann, there is simply no other choice, when the tanks run dry, you must buy.

When expensive trucked water is out of reach, many turn to unsafe sources.

COMPETITION FOR UNTREATED WATER

Sometime people must compete for untreated water. Districts along the Yallahs River make connections to the raw water pipeline heading to Mona Dam. Other communities use springs with traces of coffee-related pesticides that also run dry in severe droughts. Ironically, most of these areas have Wi-Fi networks for internet. Yet the health burden goes unnoticed for decades.

Water in some areas like Mount Sania have become so scares that farmers compete with the community. Yet, we have known there is a deficit in the Yallahs River Watershed for the last twenty years and climate change will make this competition more severe, as we approach Global Surface Temperatures of 1.5 Celsius. Where is the rural water development in St. Thomas?

ABUNDANT WATER RESOURCES

There is enough water in our rivers and groundwaters, but not enough in the taps. The Water Resources Authority in 2022 estimated we have 4.2 billion gallons available per day, but current demand is only 0.5 billion gallons. The issue is the chronic underinvestment in rural water supplies that separate people from this luxury.

Increasing severity of droughts will result in 30 per cent reductions in rainfall, rivers and groundwater flows. The worst hit areas will be the central and western parishes. What is required is not just black tanks but investment in climate-resilient rural water supplies.

WATER SUPPLIES ARE CHEAPER

What is the rural water supply system? The rural water infrastructure has about 425 wells, and springs; managed by the NWC and municipal corporations. Many are in poor condition, losing over 70 per cent of the water produced, with outdated pipes, dilapidated pumps, and storage tanks. Unreliable water services forces communities to depend on trucked water.

Rural Water Supply Limited (RWSL) completed several water supply projects recently. And seven more are underway with CDB assistance to address the needs of over 100,000 people. It takes about J$250,000 per household, to put the tanks, treatment plants and pipelines in place. But many of these projects get stuck in the pipeline for over seven years, from conception to completion. At this rate it will take a half a century to bring relief to the 720,000 people that need reliable water. Without rapid rehabilitation and upgrades, most rural systems will remain inadequate for the foreseeable future. But we have successfully addressed this issue with a combination of government-sponsored trucked delivery system and system upgrades.

In 1999, the government launched the Rapid Response Unit (RRU), with 30 water trucks that brought some relief. However, in 2009 Minister Dr Horace Chang terminated and divested RRU, which is now listed as dissolved at the Company Office of Jamaica. Recently, Minister Samuda, rejected calls to restart it during the drought, noting his shift toward permanent rural water infrastructure over emergency trucking. At the current pace of delivery, it could take 50 years for permanent solutions. A layered approach, of supplies, delivery and storage, is needed.

The real issue is chronic underinvestment in rural water systems and the lack of a reliable, government-led water trucking service. It is five times more cost-effective to build permanent water infrastructure – at about J$250,000 per household – than to leave families dependent on truckloads costing J$25,000 each month. Reliance on expensive trucking only deepens rural poverty and inequality.

Christopher Burgess, PhD, is a registered civil engineer, land developer and managing director of CEAC Outsourcing, owners of SMARTHomes Jamaica. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.