‘Blenheim deserves better’

WESTERN BUREAU:

“BLENHEIM DESERVES better than what is happening there now with regard to water. It deserves much better than that,” Sheridan Samuels, mayor of Lucea and chairman of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), argued while showing his disgust at the lack of potable water in the western Hanover district.

Samuels, the councillor for that district in the HMC, emphasised during a recent sitting of the municipality, that the area carries a lot of history, as it is the birthplace of Jamaica’s first prime minister and National Hero, Sir Alexander Bustamante.

The lack of water in the Blenheim area came up for mention against the background that in a matter of days, the 139th anniversary of the birth of Sir Alexander Bustamante will be observed with a civic ceremony in the district. It has come to light, however, that plans are now just being put in place by the National Water Commission (NWC) for water to be trucked to the district for three days leading up to the celebrations.

“Water will be trucked to the Blenheim community, approximately three truckloads per day on the 17th, the 20th and the 21st (of February),” Nicholas Campbell, NWC’s water production manager for Hanover and Westmoreland stated while tabling a report on his agency’s operational activities in the parish.

Devon Brown, the minority leader in the corporation, expressed disappointment with the NWC, and the fact that the residents of Blenheim had to go through the same exercise every year.

“What will happen after the 21st, there will be the civic ceremony on the 24th, why they (the residents) cannot get water in their pipes, or the trucks cannot continue to visit the community after that?” he asked rhetorically.

Brown contended that the manner in which the much-needed commodity was being distributed to residents was unacceptable.

There was no explanation from the NWC representative as to why there was no piped water in the Blenheim community, even though the homes have been piped, and water flowed through the lines in the past.

In an interview with The Gleaner following the meeting, Samuels stressed that he was “vexed” about the situation as it has become like a recurring decimal.

“Every year the residents of that district have been going through this situation. They used to get water from a water source in the same Blenheim area, but the water pump was removed, and they have been connected to the Great River water supply system. Persons have been suffering since then because of the lack of the commodity in their homes, as a result of the move to implement that policy,” he said.

“What we have noticed is that every year around the 24th of February (birthdate of Sir Alexander), the NWC tries to put water into the community, and the residents are very upset because they ask why is it that water can reach them at this time of year and not on a regular basis like every other community,” he said.

bryan.miller@gleanerjm.com