August 27, 2026
NWC says water facilities in north eastern parishes taking major hit due to drought
Written byClement Reid
The National Water Commission is reporting that its water facilities in St Ann, St Mary and Portland are taking a major hit due to the drought impacting the island.
The NWC is urging customers to adopt water conservation practices and ensure adequate water storage, as it continues to closely monitor drought impacted facilities across its eastern division.
According to NWC as a result of declining inflows at surface water sources, some systems are producing between 10 and 50 percent of their normal output while others are out of operation.
It says this has affected water supply delivery across the utility’s north eastern parishes.
NWC says to mitigate the effects of the drought, it has implemented several regulated water supply schedules to service impacted parishes and that these measures will remain in effect until conditions improve.
According to the NWC for St Ann – five of the seven facilities being monitored are below 50 percent capacity with one at zero percent and two at 10 percent each.
The NWC notes that the Fort George facility in is now at zero percent capacity, Blackstonedge at 10 percent and new hope at 10 percent.
The Chester and Mount Zion facilities are at the highest with 50 percent capacity each.
For St Mary, NWC says 12 of the 13 systems being monitored are below 50 percent capacity.
It notes that the fellowship hall facility is at zero percent capacity followed by crescent at 20 percent as the lowest systems in St Mary.
And for Portland, the NWC says the Haining and Windsor Forest facilities are at 20 percent capacity each as the lowest systems in the parish.
It states that of the five facilities being monitored, the Kensington and Turtle Crawl systems are each at 50 percent capacity as the highest in the parish.
