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If the NWC is to get that increase.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
There's no doubt that the National Water Commission (NWC) needs to provide its customers with better service.
Anyone who questions this, need only refer to the lead story in the October 17 edition of the Business Observer which reported that the NWC was guilty of 29,225 breaches in service standards between October 2006 and March 2007.
Add to that the many complaints of poor quality water and inadequate service that have been reported by the media over the years and you will get a picture that is not complimentary to the agency.
For instance, in February this year, this newspaper reported hoteliers in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth complaining that scheduled water lock-offs by the NWC, especially on weekends, were seriously inconveniencing their guests.
One of those hoteliers, Ms Yvonne Clarke, the manager of Jakes Resort at Calabash Bay, said water lock-offs were scheduled during the dry season, but the frequency of such lock-offs on weekends, when most of their guests were inhouse, had caused serious problems.
At the time, Ms Lisa Golding of the NWC explained that the scheduled water lock-offs were necessary in that part of St Elizabeth, which has a dense farming population and very little rain at that time of year. The water was usually locked off in one area, she said, so people in another area could get water.
"That has always been the case," Ms Golding said, adding that the residents are advised of the lock-off schedule.
In those circumstances it's difficult to argue with that strategy. For in periods of drought the most sensible thing to do is to conserve.
Our attention is focused on the NWC because of its request for a 44 per cent rate increase which, it argues, is necessary to cover its increasing operating costs, demanding expectations of customers and stringent new regulatory requirements.
According to the NWC, the present water rates are among the cheapest in the Caribbean and about half the water cost in an average US city.
In return for this increase in rates, the NWC says it intends to improve the availability, reliability and quality of its services, ensure that potable water and sewerage costs are kept at the minimum levels, and ensure the sustainability of its operations by earning a reasonable return on investment, which will allow it to source and service financing for capital projects.
One would be hard-pressed to challenge the issues raised by Mr E G Hunter, the NWC president, of deteriorating infrastructure and the demand on the NWC to expand and improve its services to facilitate new developments and to curtail environmental degradation due to untreated wastewater.
However, we can't ignore the fact that the NWC has not been aggressive enough in eliminating the many illegal connections across the island that have been robbing it of revenue. We are also not convinced that the agency is being run as efficiently as it should.
Mr Hunter and his team, therefore, need to tell us how they intend to manage the NWC in such a way as to stop the haemorrhaging it has been suffering over the years. They must also present to the country a credible development plan with projections of the NWC's response to expected increase in demand on its service and the associated costs.
Anything less than that, we suspect, will not win them public support for a rate increase.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
There's no doubt that the National Water Commission (NWC) needs to provide its customers with better service.
Anyone who questions this, need only refer to the lead story in the October 17 edition of the Business Observer which reported that the NWC was guilty of 29,225 breaches in service standards between October 2006 and March 2007.
Add to that the many complaints of poor quality water and inadequate service that have been reported by the media over the years and you will get a picture that is not complimentary to the agency.
For instance, in February this year, this newspaper reported hoteliers in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth complaining that scheduled water lock-offs by the NWC, especially on weekends, were seriously inconveniencing their guests.
One of those hoteliers, Ms Yvonne Clarke, the manager of Jakes Resort at Calabash Bay, said water lock-offs were scheduled during the dry season, but the frequency of such lock-offs on weekends, when most of their guests were inhouse, had caused serious problems.
At the time, Ms Lisa Golding of the NWC explained that the scheduled water lock-offs were necessary in that part of St Elizabeth, which has a dense farming population and very little rain at that time of year. The water was usually locked off in one area, she said, so people in another area could get water.
"That has always been the case," Ms Golding said, adding that the residents are advised of the lock-off schedule.
In those circumstances it's difficult to argue with that strategy. For in periods of drought the most sensible thing to do is to conserve.
Our attention is focused on the NWC because of its request for a 44 per cent rate increase which, it argues, is necessary to cover its increasing operating costs, demanding expectations of customers and stringent new regulatory requirements.
According to the NWC, the present water rates are among the cheapest in the Caribbean and about half the water cost in an average US city.
In return for this increase in rates, the NWC says it intends to improve the availability, reliability and quality of its services, ensure that potable water and sewerage costs are kept at the minimum levels, and ensure the sustainability of its operations by earning a reasonable return on investment, which will allow it to source and service financing for capital projects.
One would be hard-pressed to challenge the issues raised by Mr E G Hunter, the NWC president, of deteriorating infrastructure and the demand on the NWC to expand and improve its services to facilitate new developments and to curtail environmental degradation due to untreated wastewater.
However, we can't ignore the fact that the NWC has not been aggressive enough in eliminating the many illegal connections across the island that have been robbing it of revenue. We are also not convinced that the agency is being run as efficiently as it should.
Mr Hunter and his team, therefore, need to tell us how they intend to manage the NWC in such a way as to stop the haemorrhaging it has been suffering over the years. They must also present to the country a credible development plan with projections of the NWC's response to expected increase in demand on its service and the associated costs.
Anything less than that, we suspect, will not win them public support for a rate increase.
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