The Meteorological Services Branch (Met Service) and the National Water Commission (NWC) along with other key Agencies in the Water Sector have stepped up their efforts this year to strengthen the country’s response to drought management.

According to Minister Without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC) Hon. Daryl Vaz,  the Met Service which is responsible for sounding an alarm when meteorological drought conditions are expected or are being experienced,  has put in place plans to increase coverage of automatic weather stations by another 15 per cent during this financial year 2020/2021.

Minister Vaz who has responsibility for the  Water and Housing portfolios, was speaking at a virtual press briefing that was convened at the Ministry’s New Kingston offices recently, to update the nation on the water initiatives that are currently being undertaken by the island’s key water agencies, as well as their individual and collective response to the yearly drought experienced by the country.

Minister Vaz explained that the Met Service currently monitors a network of 103 manual rain-gauges, four (4) rainfall intensity gauges and 100 automatic weather stations across the length and breadth of the island.   He noted that this is still short of the number required to give complete coverage of all 14 Parishes “but does provide very good representation of wet and dry conditions being experienced around the country to varying degrees”.

In explaining the need for the installation of the automatic weather stations, Minister Vaz said there is capacity at this time to relay rainfall information in real-time by only about 10 per cent of the automatic network. 

However, he said by this time next year, this will be possible from over 90 per cent of the stations, allowing for drought determination in a much more timely manner. 

In keeping with the mandate of the National Water Sector Policy and Implementation Plan (2019), the National Water Commission (NWC) in the meantime has stepped up its efforts to ensure access to potable water through the installation of several major pipelines and other infrastructure to improve supply to several communities across the Corporate Area.

Minister Vaz says the installation of these pipelines are not only important to the NWC’s comprehensive plans for efficient distribution of the commodity, but are also part of broader efforts to build resilience and reliability within the network. 

The Water Resources Authority (WRA) among its several initiatives has improved its capacity to determine the amount of water that is available in the island especially during the drought period. This includes the upgrade/maintenance of 15 new and existing river gauging stations.

Minister Vaz said this programme will allow for improved data capture that will enhance analysis and recommendations that are critical to the Development Approvals Process, the applications for abstraction and for charting responses to weather and climate extremes such as floods, droughts and climate change.

In the meantime, the Rural Water Supply Limited (RWSL) has approached the water challenges through the Rural Water Upgrading Programme; catchment tank rehabilitation;  and the provision of rainwater Harvesting facilities, particularly in schools.

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