Residents ‘locked off’

More than 25 households at Odessa McClean Road, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael have been without water for two days after the lone stand-pipe in the area was disconnected. Yesterday residents of the Zone 1 area complained to the WEEKEND NATION that “without any notice” on Wednesday, the pipe which is located on the property of the National Petroleum Company (NPC) sub-station in their community, was disconnected by NPC officials.According to former Member of Parliament for that constituency, Trevor Prescod, all the residents depended on that “only pipe in the area which was locked and supervised by a responsible resident who handled the key”.Prescod said that yesterday after being called upon by his former constituents, he visited NPC where he spoke to a senior official who told him that management was waiting on a decision from Minister of Environment, Water Resources and Drainage Denis Lowe.“Without the water you can just imagine the kind of horror that these families are experiencing. But in the meantime all of these people out here are without water, nobody even sent in a water truck to help these people. “What was agreed on when I was MP for the area was that NPC will continue to pay the bill at all times as long as the people do not abuse the use of water. “I really believe that if they wanted to stop this service, it is only common decency to at least tell the people, and also find an alternative way of providing water for them. It is folly for someone to tell me that Cabinet had to wait until Thursday to make a decision on a matter as simple as moving a lock so that human beings can have access to water.”Meanwhile, one resident who preferred to remain anonymous, said he could not understand why the water was turned off because it was there for so many years that residents “consider it as tradition”.“They didn’t have a reason to turn it off, it wasn’t being used inappropriately. The people put a sophisticated and reliable, abrupt and outspoken person to hold the keys so that people couldn’t do what they wanted with the pipe. “I don’t see the reason that they had to shut down 25 households,” said the fuming resident. When contacted MP for the area Deputy Speaker Kenneth Best said that the matter was being looked into.Efforts to reach Minister Lowe yesterday proved futile.