Samuda defends NWC's decision to halt sharing of water quality data with KSAMC

 

Minister with responsibility for Water, Matthew Samuda, has said he fully supports the decision of the National Water Commission to halt the sharing of water quality data with the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), adding that the entity is not legally bound.

 

It follows the controversy over the NWC's report to the council in March, which sparked concerns about water quality in the Corporate Area.

 

Speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Thursday morning, Minister Samuda said going forward, the data will be published via the NWC's website.

 

He said NWC will continue to operate in a transparent manner in accordance with the legislation that govern water supply.

 

But Mr. Samuda said the transparency required is via its annual reports that are submitted to Parliament, the Integrated Water Resource Management Council of Cabinet, Office of Utilities Regulation, Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Bureau of Standards Jamaica.

 

Mr. Samuda said the reform of the reporting process is necessary to protect the NWC from further reputational harm. 

 

"The circumstance before us is one where either because of a lack of understanding of the operations of NWC and the test results and information provided to them or because of political mischief, the KSAMC and its councillors caused great reputational harm, with no basis, to the NWC. Even after the NWC's engineers and bureaucrats and professionals explained that there was no issue to them, they proceeded. After the Ministry of Health and their professionals and their bureaucrats came out and said there is no issue and there is no basis for a boil water advisory and these levels are not a problem, they continued and perpetuated reputational harm to the entity and to the nation's water supply," the minister contended.

 

He said the changes in the reporting on water quality data will include all municipal corporations. He added that the structure for reporting the data will be signed off on at the Integrated Water Resource Management Council of Cabinet, which meets quarterly.

 

"So we will, through the IWRMC, which is Integrated Water Resource Management Council, review the structure of reports that are made and reform it. But we have all intention of publishing all of those reports online, not reporting to a council, which is what the practice was starting to lend to. There is no basis for that in law. We'll simply make the reports public, so whether you're in academia, whether you're in a municipality, whether you're in any planning agency, whether you're in the private sector, you'll be able to read all these reports. You don't have to wait on a council meeting."

 

The Integrated Water Resource Management Council comprises the ministries of water, health, local government, agriculture and all of agencies to review the water sector.