Consumers Prepare for Water Shortages!

Summer is here at long last.  Children are home from school and the days are longer and hotter.

The summer sky is usually clear  and everyone flocks to the beach to cool off from the intense heat.

There is of course, one more thing that the summer also signals and that is the current water shortage being felt especially in Kingston, and areas of St. Catherine.

Low Rainfall

There is an old English rhyme which states:

‘Rain, rain go away,
Come again some April day.’

Unfortunately there has been very little rain in April or May and so the sun has been busy torturing everyone. To make matters worse, we rely heavily on the rain to replenish our water supply so there has been reduced capacity in our water reservoir systems.

In order to combat the problem, The National Water Commission (N.W.C) has been arranging scheduled lock offs in selected areas. This means that customers must be prepared to do without the precious commodity until drought conditions have changed.

Consumers have also been advised that there are also restrictions on washing cars, watering lawns and filling pools. This is a serious warning as anyone who breaks these restrictions and is caught could face fines or imprisonment.

Consumers must make preparations in order to ride out the drought.

It is vital that you store water in clean containers.
Some consumers have also invested in buying a tank in which the water can be pumped.  Although the initial cost of purchasing a tank might be significant, the long term costs will be less than having to purchase water.

It is also important to fix any leaks in your pipes so that there is no added strain on the system.

I have noticed in a few business places that there has been these new faucets where there is a piece of thin metal protruding from the middle of the pipe.  Instead of customers turning knobs, this metal is pushed aside to let the water flow which thereby creates less waste of water.

In your own home if you can not change out fixtures and replace them with water saving ones why not do the next best thing and encourage all in the home to securely tighten the knobs when they are finished using them as this reduces water wastage.

How are you preparing for the water restrictions? Let me hear from you!

Teri Ann Paisley

Gleaner online writer

Tags: water restrictions