The Yallahs river pipeline, which pumps on average 15 million gallons of water daily into the Mona Reservoir in St Andrew, is expected to be back on stream in a number of days after being out of commission for the past two months.

The pipeline had been out of service due to a dislocation of pipes. However, Karen Clacken, acting corporate public relations manager at the National Water Commission (NWC), said that it should soon be back in service.

"Repairs are almost complete and it will be back to normal by next week," she told The Gleaner yesterday.

No special restrictions

Despite the absence of the pipe and the lack of rainfall since December, Clacken said that it has not caused the NWC to implement any special restrictions in water delivery to customers served by the Mona Reservoir.

"It is not at the level where there would be any restrictions or anything like that. Today (yesterday), some areas of downtown Kingston are having low pressure, but that is because of low storage at the Marescaux Road plant," Clacken said.

The Gleaner understands that the reservoir, which serves the majority of Kingston and St Andrew, is operating at roughly 70 per cent of its capacity due to the lack of rainfall and the absence of the Yallahs river pipeline. The Hope River, which also contributes to the capacity at the reservoir, is now contributing four to five million gallons of water, down from its 49-million-gallon capacity. The-36-foot deep reservoir, which holds up to 825 million gallons of water, is currently holding 600 million gallons.