JIS News

State Minister in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Hon. Homer Davis, says a plan is being looked at to establish an underground water recharge system in Clarendon.

The State Minister, who toured the Rural Water Supply Limited (RWSL) Artificial Underground Recharge System in Innswood, St. Catherine, on July 13, said the system will boost supply of the commodity in Clarendon.

“This is a very successful project, and we are looking at Clarendon to see if such a system can be replicated there,” Mr. Davis told journalists.

“It is a very potent project, serving a wide area, and it is part of a national policy to enhance the quality of life for people,” he added.

The St. Catherine facility is situated on 68 acres of land, and its main function is to divert approximately five million gallons of water per day from the Rio Cobre river through the National Irrigation Commission (NIC) canal during the wet season.

After the water is extracted from the canal, it is settled and injected into limestone wells to recharge the limestone aquifer, and to replenish the abstractions from wells in the Portmore/Bernard Lodge area.

“It is important that we have these wells being recharged, to ensure easy access to potable water, and we are also encouraging citizens to have the necessary storage capacity to deal with rainwater harvesting. We have to look at various measures to put us in a better position,” he said.

The system was built at a cost of $1.1 billion, with financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The State Minister lauded the RWSL team for their management of the system.

Meanwhile, Mr. Davis said there are springs across the island that never go dry, and “we are looking at these springs, doing the measurement, in consultation with the WRA (Water Resources Authority), to see how much we can extract from these systems to benefit the people”.