9,071 new connections since 2021

Durrant Pate/Contributor

The National Water Commission (NWC) in Jamaica has been increasing its water connections, adding 9,071 new connections to its network last year.

The number of connections to the NWC’s network increased to 527,270, up from 518,199 in 2020, due mainly to an expansion in housing and commercial building stocks.

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) is reporting that this increase in connections resulted from a higher number of connections in Kingston, St Andrew and St Thomas, totaling 142,935, up from 141,068 in 2020.

The numbers for the other parishes increased to 384,335, up from 377,131.

According to the PIOJ’s Economic and Social Survey Jamaica for 2021, water production by the NWC grew by 1.0 per cent to 336,497.9 mega-litres compared with 2020.

The report noted that the increase in water production was driven by increases of 1.9 per cent to 73,141.5 mega-litres in output from Kingston, St Andrew and St Thomas and 0.7 per cent to 263,356.4 mega-litres in output from other parishes. Water consumption also grew by 0.9 per cent to 83,855.1 mega-litres compared with 2020.

Water consumption

“This resulted from increases of 0.5 per cent to 31,708.3 mega-litres in consumption in Kingston, St Andrew and St Thomas and 1.1 per cent to 52,146.7 mega-litres in consumption by the category other parishes,” the report indicated.

Kingston and St Andrew accounted for the largest share of consumption of 35.2 per cent, followed by St Catherine with 19.2 per cent. This growth in water consumption was attributed to higher demand linked to the relaxation of measures implemented to restrict the spread of COVID-19 and an increase in the level of rainfall compared with 2020.

In the meantime, the report noted that the NWC’s revenue increased by 11.1 per cent to J$38.1 billion, due to growth in the number of connections and an increase in the water and sewerage rates charged to customers.

“This increase in revenue reflected increases of 11.7 per cent to J$15.4 billion in revenues for Kingston, St Andrew and St Thomas and 10.7 per cent to $22.7 billion in revenues for other parishes,” the report stated