This article was taken from the gleaner
TYRONE'S WATCH - No piped water for over 50 years!
published: Tuesday | May 16, 2006


Left: Empty and poorly kept, this is one of two tanks used by farmers to irrigate their fields during the rainy season. Right: A National Water Commission employee prepares to deliver water to a home in Queensbury in St. Elizabeth. At between $5,000 to $10,000 per truck, the cost of transporting water is costing residents in the community a bundle.

WHAT'S NOT WORKING:

Residents from Queensbury in St. Elizabeth have been living on tank and trucked water for more than half of a century. The frustrated residents have now reached boiling point and are screaming 'enough is enough'.

SYNOPSIS:

Queensbury is a small farming community with a population of over 1,000 persons located in the valley between Malvern and Southfield in St. Elizabeth.

The residents of Queensbury said that the closest they have ever come to having piped water in the community was through a standpipe which was constructed in the 1940s.

Reverend Henry Falconer, a resident of the community, said that at one point the Government decided to help the people in the community to build tanks instead of getting the water into the village and even then only a few families could come up with half the funds to build a tank.

Since then, the residents say all they have received are empty promises while neighbouring communities, some within a mile of their homes, have received piped water.

The residents claim that they are being punished for their political affiliation. "The majority of the village from 1944 has been supporting the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). I strongly believe it is related to politics," said Rev. Falconer.

Shirley Myers, JLP Councillor for the Southfield Division, under which Queensbury falls, agreed that politics was involved in the matter.

"I am an Opposition Councillor and I was promised some pipes years ago by the previous Minister of Water and Housing, Dr. Karl Blythe, and up until now I really don't get it," he said. "Every month, I spoke about it and at one time they said it was coming from China. Being the Opposition Councillor, they play politics with it. But is not just Queensbury alone that do not have any running water. I submitted Ridge, Banton Town and several other communities, but it fell on deaf ears.

WHO'S RESPONSIBLE?

Lisa Golding, community relations manager for the NWC's Western Division, said that if the area has no pipes, it means that the community is not a client of the NWC.

However, she was unable to commit to a time frame much less state definitively that the project was feasible.

She advised, however, that the community, with the help of the MP or Councillor, could submit a formal request in writing to the NWC for the services.

WHAT'S THE STATUS?

Ms. Golding will be researching to find out whether any plans were made to pipe water into the community.

Meanwhile, Councillor Myers has promised to bring the issue to the fore at the next parish council meeting.

CONCLUSION

There is no reason for this community to be without piped water, especially when neighbouring communities have the service. We should never allow politics to so corrupt our minds that we fail to see the needs of our brothers and sisters.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Tell us about problems in your community. Write to: Tyrone Reid, The Gleaner Company Limited, 7 North Street, P.O. Box 40, Kingston; Fax: 922-6223, Tel: 922-3400 Ext. 6364 or email: tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com.


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