Sun | Sep 24, 2023

Water tanks making big difference at HWT Primary

Published:Friday | June 2, 2023 | 12:55 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
Principal of the Half-Way Tree Primary School, Carol O’Connor Clarke, is overjoyed as she celebrates with Peta-Gaye Pecco, marketing coordinator at Bigga, receiving two 1,000-gallon capacity water tanks donated by Bigga Soft Drinks brand marketed by the
Kenyon Hemans
Principal of the Half-Way Tree Primary School, Carol O’Connor Clarke, is overjoyed as she celebrates with Peta-Gaye Pecco, marketing coordinator at Bigga, receiving two 1,000-gallon capacity water tanks donated by Bigga Soft Drinks brand marketed by the Wisynco Group Limited in February.

Principal of the Half-Way Tree Primary School at 34 Burlington Avenue, St Andrew, Carol O’Connor Clarke, was, by her own admission, feeling quite ‘boasy’ when The Gleaner caught up with her on Saturday to ask how the prohibition notice imposed by the National Water Commission (NWC) was likely to affect operations at the institution.

The notice states that with effect from May 26, the use of water supplied by or obtained through the commission’s pipes for non-essential purpose would be punishable by a fine or imprisonment, upon conviction by a parish judge.

In years gone by, the school would have had to be contemplating unscheduled closures in the event of NWC lock-offs. However, with the installation of two 1,000-gallon capacity water tanks donated by Bigga Soft Drinks brand marketed by the Wisynco Group Limited in February, the school is now sitting pretty.

O’Connor Clarke was especially excited to talk about the this year’s Labour Day project which was aimed at sprucing up the school – painting, pruning and cleaning. Of course, cooking of the meal was well under way – boiled dumplings and ground provisions with salt fish. Everything was going well when disaster reared, rather threatened to rear its ugly head.

“We cooked the salt fish, boil it first to get out the excess salt and then there was no water (in the pipe),” the principal admitted. However, this time around they had a ready solution. “All we had to do was jump up on the roof and turn the tap,” she shared while laughing. “I want you to know that the tanks are helping us greatly,” she added.

“The persons who came for the Labour Day project were able to do all they planned to, and because there was water in the tanks we were able to refresh ourselves and clean up afterwards and leave the kitchen clean because the next day was school was going to open.”

She continued: “The tanks have made a big difference, especially with sanitisation (flushing of toilets) because we would have had to shut down. Now we are never out of water!”