Desilting of Hermitage Dam still being considered

An assessment will commence next month to determine whether it is still viable to desilt the Hermitage Dam in St. Andrew.

An Italian firm has been selected to conduct the assessment, which should last for six months.

Mark Barnett, President of the National Water Commission (NWC), told RJR News that the desilting might begin shortly after, if the assessment indicates that it is feasible.

“We have an over 88 year old infrastructure (the dam) and one of the things that we have to be mindful of, with past earthquakes… there is the likelihood of shifting in the dam pit, (so) we don’t want to just go and put equipment  into the dam to remove silt and then we have another catastrophe, so we are making sure that… all factors are considered before any work is undertaken,”  he explained.

He reiterated that, with the build-up of silt over decades, the capacity of Hermitage Dam has been significantly reduced, hence the need to reverse that trend and make more water available from storage for the growing Kingston Metropolitan Area.