Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
BAUGH
OPPOSITION SPOKESMAN on Health, Dr. Ken Baugh, yesterday urged Government to address the unavailability of potable water in rural communities, which he said is spawning poverty.
Dr. Baugh said the unavailability of water affects farming and non-farming activities in the country. To address the problem he said that Government should build more dams on a small and large scale to prevent flooding, as well as to facilitate water storage, especially for irrigation purposes.
Dr. Baugh made the recommendations during his contribution to the 2005/06 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives.
"There is a need for comprehensive planning and urgent action to educate people to protect water sources, to upgrade and modernise rural water systems and proper treatments," he said.
He added that there needed to be the cleaning of sinkholes and recharging of aquifers. Dr. Baugh also stressed that farmers should be encouraged to develop techniques such as drip irrigation, hydroponics and others.
The Opposition Spokesman on Health recommended the installation of desalination plants in coastal areas to convert sea water or brackish well water to fresh water.
Dr. Baugh said that a plant to produce one million gallons per day would cost US$4.5 million and could produce either desalinated sea water at US$16.50 per 1,000 gallons, or desalinated brackish water at US$9.10 per 1,000 gallons.
"This could serve many coastal areas and take the pressure off the systems that are in high demand. I don't know what we are waiting on. This is something that works effectively and efficiently in the Caribbean and in many countries in the Middle East," said Dr. Baugh.
He also suggested that the private sector should be encouraged to enter into Buy, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) arrangements for water systems.
The Government has said that it would make potable water available to every Jamaican by the year 2010, and it had originally intended to achieve this objective by 2005.
