Negril needs your help! Just an email....

[Reggae_Girl98]

Email sent:

For the attention of The Hon. Minister Mr. Edmund Bartlett: Serious concerns about environment, pipe water supply and road condition in Negril

Dear Sir,
As a long term regular visitor of Jamaica and Negril since 1995, I am addressing you regarding the dire situation encountered in Negril during my last stay in March of this year.
We were in Negril with a group of 10 family members and friends, staying at small hotels along Norman Manley Boulevard (Charela Inn, Idle Awhile and Cocolapalm). During the first days of our stay we encountered the burning of the Great Morass with ashes raining all over Negril as far out as on the Westend for a couple of days. I heard residents discussing a project for which Jamaica has been accorded funding by the UN in 2018, which has not led to any tangible results so far which could have helped to prevent such long-lasting and severe fires as the recent ones. This is a shame!
Then we learned about the severe water situation which the inhabitants of Negril have had to endure especially on the Westend for a very long time now. We also noted the deplorable condition of the Westend Road, a road on which many tourists travel each day to either reach their hotels and more particularly the main attraction Ricks Cafe. I felt ashamed taking my friends on this road! But I felt even more ashamed as well as appalled by the dire situation faced by the people of Negril with not having a basic commodity as pipe water available to them. With all the development and achievements of Jamaica in the past couple of years, I am struggling to understand why this matter apparently has not been properly addressed to prevent the current situation. An urgent upgrade of the infrastructure - seemingly also in the pipeline since 2018! - is required as the present trucking of water to hotels and residents is not a sustainable and affordable solution. In addition, the onslaught of heavy water trucks is not helping the road situation at all. It would have seemed logical that the ongoing construction of big new hotels should have been accompanied by measures ensuring water supply for all.
I am seriously considering to cancel my next visit planned for this summer and will not recommend travel to Negril to any of my friends anymore until residents will have water again!

[Odinson]

Terrible irony that Jamaica had the first piped water in the Western Hemisphere.

[Rob]

I want to thank RG98 for mentioning another failure of this government to address the Great Morass after they had been given a grant from the United Nations to implement a solution. And to Odinson for pointing out the Holness administration will be forever known as the administration that let the pipes run dry on the oldest piped water system in the Western Hemisphere.

With basic proper management and maintenance, planning for climate change could have been done. They had it on the books 6 years ago.

[ol'yardie]

An article in today's Gleaner where Minister Bartlett praised the role of tourism in generating HUGE income for the island set me off so I wrote another letter, this one to the Gleaner lamenting the empty pipes in Negril. Negril residents cannot drink record tourism profits. I guess the government can.

[Rob]

An article in today's Gleaner where Minister Bartlett praised the role of tourism in generating HUGE income for the island set me off so I wrote another letter, this one to the Gleaner lamenting the empty pipes in Negril. Negril residents cannot drink record tourism profits. I guess the government can.

And if that wasn't enough, to add insult to injury, Minister Samuda said that during this "serious drought" period that 70% of the water coming from the Logwood Plant is being lost due to leaks. And what had the government done to correct the leaks? Absolutely nothing. It has been known by the government for 3 years that this was the case, and Idiocracy prevailed, and nothing was done.

From the Observer:

"Acting Regional Manager David Pryce said work is ongoing to detect leaks and will hopefully yield more success in minimising water losses.

"Among the locations that the NWC has identified was the Salt Creek Bridge near the entrance to Negril, where an aged section of the transmission main was found leaking. The NWC team noted that this location requires a planned operation, given the technical complexity involved in accessing and repairing the pipeline that is strapped to the support beams of the bridge," the commission said last weekend in response to questions from the Observer.

"Earlier this week a joint site visit was carried out with representatives of the National Works Agency (NWA), who provided guidance on the suitable approaches for undertaking the repairs. Based on the feedback, the NWC estimates that full repair will be completed within a matter of two weeks," the commission added.

The issue of the leaking pipe near the sign welcoming commuters to Negril was also brought to the attention of the Hanover Municipal Corporation by Councillor Marvell Sewell (Peoples National Party, Green Island Division). He said he was told that the leak has been there for years.

"Millions of gallons of water going into the river and I got in touch with someone from the NWC and they are saying that it is a big project; it is bigger than them. It has to come from Kingston and Kingston is aware of that leak years ago. It is not like yesterday that pipe leaking," argued Sewell."

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2024...-pipes-negril/

[ukran1ans]

As a post mortem, I did want to also comment on how the water supply issue in Negril affected my stay. Being a small place, Caribbean Delight had small water tanks, so because of the low flow they received, they constantly had to shut their water pumps on and off. Most nights there was no water flowing (had to get used to not flushing the toilet and buying some large water bottles for either filling the toilet or freshening up, sometimes the water was even off when I wanted to shower before dinner). When they had the pumps on the pressure was great. I understand that these inconveniences are nothing compared to what the people on the West End are going through but I can also see how this would turn some tourists off in the future (I'll always be back to Negril staying at a boutique hotel!!).

[Rob]

Minister Bartlett had an article in the Gleaner over 7 years ago about the lack of maintained infrastructure in Negril. The article opens with:

"Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says the resort town of Negril is suffering from the effects of poor spatial and infrastructural planning, which has continued in the half a century since the town was identified as a tourism Mecca."

https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/...s-state-negril

Aprill 11, 2017 - and what has been done to the Negril infrastructure in the last 7 years? Absolutely nothing. Please let Tourism Minister Bartlett know about your feelings if you haven't already.

Please send an email to Minister Bartlett at info@visitjamaica.com.

[Ras Walleye]

I posted the email address to several Negril Facebook groups. With luck that will generate a bunch of new emails!