Some 50 per cent of households in rural parishes are still without access to water from the state-run National Water Commission (NWC), a recent survey shows.

At the same time, 24.5 per cent of households in main towns are without access, compared to 4.5 per cent in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA).

Households without access to the NWC main get the life-saving commodity from sources such as rivers, standpipes, tanks, rainwater catchments and springs.

Information from the survey - commissioned by the Office of Utilities Regulation and conducted by PSEARCH Associates Limited - also indicated that the parishes most-served by the NWC's tap water were Kingston and St. Andrew and St. James.

High levels of service were recorded for Hanover, Clarendon and St. Catherine. However, Portland, St. Thomas and Manchester recorded the least NWC tap connections.

Water availability

When contacted, Robert Pickersgill, the Minister of Housing, Water, Transport and Works, told The Gleaner that water availability depended on access to sources.

"People tend to live in areas where the water does not exist and this adds to the additional constraint," he pointed out.

Meanwhile, the survey showed that a majority of the respondents were pleased with service areas of the NWC including general service, reasonableness of billing, water quality and customer interface.

However, customers expressed dissatisfaction with the inconsistency of service, absence of service to specific communities and poor communication regarding notice of water lock-offs.