THE WATER Resources Authority (WRA) is pressing forward with plans to make water more readily available to Jamaica's major population centres.
In a move to widen the accessibility of water to more Jamaicans, the WRA will implement its Development Master Plan by the end of the year.
Hydrologist at the WRA, Natalie Morgan-Ferguson, says the Master Plan will review locations where there is an abundance of water and put resources in place to transfer some of the commodity to the pipes of water users in urban areas.
"Jamaica's greatest rainfall is in the north-east but the greatest population occurs along the south. It's a matter of getting water to those areas," she said.
Mrs. Morgan-Ferguson pointed to Kingston as a primary example, noting that the parish was dependent on accessing its water from the St. Thomas and St. Catherine basins, as opposed to being more self reliant.
She said getting water to areas where the population is concentrated is the major challenge to availability of water to everyone.
To that end, the hydrologist said the WRA has actively sought to have studies done on basins, seeing how best to redesign existing water systems, and examining aquifers.
Discussing the public's role, Mrs. Morgan-Ferguson commented that because of the lack of storage facilities for water, "one of the biggest problems in Kingston and St. Andrew is practising efficient water management and conservation, which is why we have water lock offs."
She noted the unavailability of storage space to accommodate the recent deluge of rain showers, pinpointing this as a reason affecting extensive water distribution: "Right now, we have lots of rain but if we were able to store it in larger quantities and then treat it and take it from there, water would be available to everyone."
