THE EDITOR, Sir:
WHEN WILL the Government wake up and put in place regulations, fines and monitoring of the use of water? When will the National Water Commission (NWC) institute Corporate Area-wide water lock-offs and not just approach this thing piecemeal? There are parts of Kingston that are yet to have water lock-offs. In fact, at the University of the West Indies (UWI) on the weekend had a water truck spraying the liquid all over revelling students participating in carnival. This should never have been allowed.
Is this or isn't this a crisis? People are washing cars, watering lawns, filling up pools! Is the Ministry of Water and the NWC aware of an impending rainstorm that will bring the dams back to the level necessary to provide us all with a regular supply of water? Maybe they need to make us aware of this so I, too, can go wash my car and water my lawn.
When will they start an educational campaign as I am sure that gastro-enteritis and other bacterial diseases will begin to plague us in a short while. Doesn't the Ministry of Health, NWC and Ministry of Water and Housing think that they should begin to approach this matter in a way that brings the severity of the problem to light and let the citizens of this nation realise we all need to play our part and take some accountability in this matter. If not, there will be repercussions.
Wasting the water
Why are people being allowed to wash cars, water flowers on medians and King's House lawns without being fined or any apparent monitoring? Do we have a secret stash of water that the rest of the country is unaware of? I haven't had water nor has anyone on my road had water since last December and the way I have seen people ambushing water trucks, I am led to believe we are not the only ones.
I ask that the Government of Jamaica take a page out of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago's book, and not only put some rules and regulations in place but enforce them. Continuing to sweep this issue under the rug as they have swept others won't make it go away.
I am, etc.,
TARA PLAYFAIR-SCOTT
Kingston 10