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KINGSTON, Jamaica--Jamaica, suffering from a prolonged dry spell that has affected a number of institutions, says it will adopt new measures to ensure that students returning to school next week for the new academic term are not severely hampered by the lack of water.
"I want to give every assurance that the National Water Commission (NWC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, will be doing their utmost to supply water to the affected areas, so that the new school term will commence as smoothly as possible," said Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Robert Pickersgill.
Pickersgill said that information to date from the Meteorological Service suggests that various parishes in the north and south of the country were experiencing severe to extreme drought and the projection is for these parishes to continue to receive below normal rainfall.
"In light of that information, the Ministry is paying special attention to the reopening of schools as schools, as well as hospitals and infirmaries especially in those communities that are adversely affected by the severe drought," he said.
Pickersgill said that the NWC has been assisting some schools in the Corporate Area that are experiencing challenges with their supply, and are without storage capacity, by providing a number of tanks to these institutions.
"However, I am encouraging all schools to establish additional facilities for storage, so that in the absence of regular supplies water may be supplied to them and stored. After all, we are all aware that 'water is life.'"
He said Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has "instructed that a meeting be held among the Ministries of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change; Education, Health, Local Government and Agriculture, after which a more comprehensive statement on the situation will be issued early next week."
Last month, hundreds of acres of farmland in the southern parish of St Elizabeth – known as the "bread basket" parish – were destroyed by fire as the country grapples with the drought conditions. ~ Caribbean360 ~
