NWC not legally bound to report to KSAMC, says Samuda

Cabinet Minister Matthew Samuda has defended the stance of the National Water Commission (NWC), which has indicated it will cease sharing water quality data with the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), but said all reports about the commodity will be made accessible to the public.

Samuda, the minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGC) with responsibility for water, environment, climate change, and the blue and green economies, said the legislation that govern water supply are clear that NWC must operate within a transparent manner.

However, he said the transparency that is required is via the Integrated Water Resource Management Council of Cabinet and the Office of Utilities Regulation, the Ministry of Health and Wellness, and the Bureau of Standards Jamaica.

“There is no legal requirement for the NWC to report to the KSAMC, or any municipality for that matter,” Samuda told The Gleaner on Wednesday.

Under the Public Health Act, the NWC is not required to report to municipal corporations. However, municipal corporations, acting as local boards of health, have the authority to oversee and regulate NWC’s activities when they impact public health, such as water quality or sanitation.

The relationship between the two entities is more collaborative and regulatory than hierarchical, with NWC primarily accountable to central government bodies.

Samuda said that, beyond that, the issue requires understanding from Jamaicans, noting that it came about from a misunderstanding of the NWC’s water quality report for February, which has become the subject of controversy.

He said that the misunderstanding was “perpetuated by political mischief”, causing what he said was reputational damage to the NWC, both locally and internationally.

Mayor of Kingston Andrew Swaby told Tuesday’s sitting of the KSAMC that the NWC would no longer share water quality data with the local governance body, which is also the legislated local health body.

In a letter sent to KSAMC in April, NWC said “negative reactions” from local and international customers and a mistrust of the municipal corporation triggered its decision to no longer share water quality reports with the local authority.

The letter was in response to a query from the body about the absence of NWC representatives from KSAMC’s Public Health and Sanitation Committee meetings and the non-submission of water quality reports.

Opposition People’s National Party Councillor Jesse James Clarke, a microbiology and food quality lecturer, had raised concerns in March about the safety of the water in Kingston and St Andrew, following an NWC report that was shared with the corporation.

Clarke, the KSAMC’s Public Health and Sanitisation Committee chairman, said he had seen NWC test results from rural areas that showed contamination.

He said water samples returned a high number of positive results for faecal coliforms, a type of bacteria that indicates that the water has been contaminated with faeces, which could pose a serious public health concern.

“So, out of the number of samples that you choose to test, you should have less than five per cent of your samples coming down positive for fecal coliform. They’re having, like, 27 per cent positive. They know they’re having issues,” Clarke had said.

The disclosure caused a strong reaction from the public, prompting a response from the NWC and the health ministry which said the water was cleared for consumption.

LACK OF UNDERSTANDING

However, Samuda has argued that the Opposition members did not understand the report and the operating functions of the NWC.

“It’s not that there is never a negative test. It’s just very simple; if there is a negative test, those systems are locked down, sterilised and then reopened for distribution, because we don’t distribute water that is simply outside of our established regulations and norms,” Samuda said.

He said the opposition party persisted with the narrative, even after the health ministry declared the water safe for consumption.

“They still continued to reiterate falsehoods. Now, what that has forced the NWC to do is to review its reporting protocols, review the structure of its reports.

“When that report is reviewed and completed to the Integrated Water Resource Management Council — where local government is present, Ministry of Health, all the agencies from the Met Service, etc — we have all intention of publishing every single report,” he said.

He said this will be done on the websites of the NWC and the MEGC, but noted that a concerning precedent has been set if there is the belief that the reporting structure of the NWC is to municipal corporations.

“It’s a central government agency. The information belongs to the people of Jamaica,” he said, noting that it would not be presented in a manner that allows for misunderstanding, which could then be perpetuated as political misinformation.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com