Jamaica feels effects of 2024 Dry Season, PM Holness allocates $150M for water trucking

Jamaica is now at the peak of the dry season and in a bid to ensure water access to all consumers, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced an emergency allocation of 150 million Jamaican dollars, which will mostly go towards the trucking of water.

While announcing the development during the press briefing, PM Holness said that in order to help the citizens cope with the effects of the drought, the government is making a special allocation to have water trucked to mostly rural communities that are the most affected.

“There is no doubt that the impact of the drought is extensive, and that the impact on the NWC is not only extensive, but deep,” noted the PM. He further added that the Government would keep a small reserve for the emergency procurement of water tanks.

In addition to this, the Jamaican government already has a water tank program in place, which is in the final stage of procurement.

He highlighted the impacts of the peak dry season and added, “We assess that there are 50 constituencies that are impacted, meaning that the impact is islandwide.”

PM Andrew Holness also added that there are few areas which are not affected by drought so he wants to make sure that the resources that the Government has are targeted to the areas that are really in need.

“So there are 13 constituencies which will not benefit from this distribution of resources, but 50 constituencies will,” he noted saying that those 50 constituencies will get 1.5 million each for trucking.

In addition to this, he also explained reasons behind the ongoing situation and said that Jamaica, being in the tropics, needs regular rain and added, “If one rainy season is weak, it can cause draught.”

With more people living in cities, there is a greater demand for water and for these reasons the country is experiencing a drought, he added.

Furthermore, over the past year, Jamaica has seen some unusual weather patterns, especially during the rainy season from October to March.

Unfortunately, in January, the dry conditions started, leading to drought in February. The month of March had some rain, but not enough to make up for the dry spell.

However, PM Holness assured that the government is responding to alleviate the challenges that Jamaicans face during the dry season.