Kristen Gyles | Big black tanks don’t spring water

Jamaica seems to depend on storms and hurricanes for water. Unless we experience rainfall heavy enough to cause major flooding and damage to property, we are subjected year by year to stringent water restrictions. The timing matters as well.

For example, we were spared the usual summer water restrictions in 2024, because Hurricane Beryl passed by our shores in June. However, this year, when Hurricane Melissa made landfall in October and practically decimated the western half of the island, the annual water restrictions had already passed in the summer. So we got a double whammy – first, dry pipes, then, flooded homes.

The purpose of highlighting this is to make the point that our water harvesting and distribution system is in dire need of improvement. We are literally reliant on natural disasters to keep our pipes from drying out. For whatever reason, we have been unable to figure out how to harvest water in a sustainable way that supplies citizens with water throughout the year.

Our water system is reliant on the use of dams and water reservoirs. In Kingston, for example, we are primarily reliant on the Mona reservoir and the Hermitage dam. By around April or May of each year, we are usually advised by the authorities that the country is facing some type of drought. This is usually an early ‘heads up’ that water restrictions are looming on the horizon. Again, unless there is some natural disaster like a storm or hurricane, sure enough, the summer will be dry.

BIG BLACK TANK

That is, of course, unless you have a big black tank. Every Jamaican wants a big black tank. Big black tanks have become the crutch that Jamaican households rely on for water when the NWC starts rationing the water supply. We use the water from our big black tanks not only for domestic use like washing, cleaning and personal hygiene, but for drinking. When renting or purchasing a property one of the first questions that Jamaicans ask is whether or not the property has a tank. But believe it or not, big black tanks do not spring water. They have to be filled, and the water comes from somewhere.

One of the achievements highlighted by the current government in its campaign leading up to the last general election was its distribution of thousands of big black tanks. Of course, a forward-thinking Jamaican must seek to procure a big black tank to keep his or her home supplied with water, but how does everyone having a big black tank at the back of their property solve the issue of national water shortage?

In times of drought when water levels in our dams and reservoirs are low, the NWC typically resorts to a system in which they restrict the water supply to some communities during specific hours of the day (or night). If you have a big black tank, you are spared this ordeal because the tank is filled up when your community is supplied with water and when the supply of water is restricted, the water in your big black tank can be used, usually through your pipes. However, if everyone has a big black tank, how much less water is being consumed during periods of drought than during periods when there is no drought?

SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION

The solution to the national water shortage problem cannot be a reliance on big black tanks. Jamaica needs a more sustainable solution to its water shortage problem. Obviously, we have not been able, for whatever reason, to expand the Mona Reservoir and/or Hermitage dam or to create another water catchment system large enough to store enough water that can supply Kingston with water throughout times of drought. And if the country’s capital doesn’t have a consistent supply of water throughout the year, just imagine what things are like in rural areas.

Clearly, water harvesting has been a challenge for us. Perhaps, it is now time to explore something else that works across the Caribbean in several other countries. In many smaller Caribbean islands, there is little reliance on groundwater, rain and surface water sources that are susceptible to the impacts of drought. Instead, water is harvested from the sea and desalinated to become freshwater. This is the water that supplies the pipes of hospitals, medical centres, schools and homes across the islands.

This technology has now come to Jamaica. Many of us would have seen and heard by now, the news of free water in Falmouth, Trelawny. A team from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, which has been supporting the hurricane relief efforts in Jamaica since the passage of Hurricane Melissa, has managed to set up a desalination system at Falmouth Pier. The system harvests sea water and removes the salt and other impurities through reverse osmosis, producing fresh, potable water.

The desalination plant has been producing 1,000 gallons of water per hour through 10 standpipes located in the parking lot of the Church of the Assemblies of God.

This technology is a lifeline for many who have been without water for weeks since the hurricane and can be a lifeline for the country’s floundering water system, if implemented on a broader scale on a more permanent basis. While the Bahamian Defence Force will not be here for much longer, we can learn what they came to teach us.

Now, the lesson. Come next summer, the test.

Kristen Gyles is a free-thinking public affairs opinionator. Send feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com