Water woes hit small businesses

The Small Business Association of Jamaica (SBAJ) is warning that the severe water shortage is pushing some micro, small and medium-sized businesses to the breaking point.

The Association says businesses in several parishes, including Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine and Clarendon, are being forced to purchase trucked water as supplies from the National Water Commission remain disrupted amid the drought.

SBAJ President Garnett Reid says businesses are now paying between eight and 20-thousand dollars per truck of water and that some businesses might be forced to close their doors if the there's no solution to the crisis.

“ We don't want that because we've still not yet recovered out of Hurricane Melissa. And it’s one crisis after another, and so we need to address it as expeditiously as possible.”

He said he will be writing to “the minister” and to Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness as well laying out the concerns of SBAJ members “because we have been getting the calls.”

Mr Reid told Radio Jamaica News that businesses such as restaurants, barbershops, laundromats, spas, food vendors and manufacturers cannot operate without a reliable water supply.

He’s urging the government to explore additional sources of water to serve the business community, arguing that better planning would allow the country to avoid the worst consequences of droughts.

“One recommendation that we are making is that the government needs to build more reservoirs; Kingston is now becoming overpopulated, high-rise in building, Airbnb, new building, and the list goes on and on. So therefore, we have to plan for the population that is growing.”