In a bid to address long standing insufficiencies impacting Kingston and St Andrew, the Government has indicated that efforts are under way to add 15 million gallons to the metropolitan water supply.

Matthew Samuda, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, made the announcement on Tusday (October 11) as he addressed a groundbreaking ceremony for the Johnston Development Group’s first $1.2-billion project, the Cardinal Residence at Graham Heights.

“It’s no secret that KSA has not had the volume of water it requires to service its citizens,” said Samuda, after commenting on the progress made in reducing non-revenue water (leaks, stolen water, and water that can’t be accounted for) from 70 per cent to 38 per cent since 2016, and plans to reduce the losses by a further 50 per cent over the next four years.

The minister also noted that a similar process to modernise the water distribution system has already started in Portmore and Old Harbour, both in St Catherine.

Samuda added that the Government will continue to invest into the NWC’s energy consumption patterns and the upcoming Mona Reservoir Floating Solar Project, announced two weeks ago (September 28), requires the dam to be de-silted, which will also “significantly increase the capacity of storage of the Mona Reservoir”.

“We’ve started the process of analysing every single pumphouse in the country. We’ve re-metred several and started the process of rewiring and we have started the process of investing in renewable energy where it is suitable to do so,” he continued.

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