On the most recent occasion at the 23rd Annual Water/Wastewater Association Conference in Nassau, Bahamas, in 2014, piped water delivered by the National Water Commission (NWC) was declared to be of the highest standard and close to some bottled water based on standards, including coloration, taste, chlorine content, and sedimentation.
But addressing a Gleaner Editors’ Forum last Thursday, JET noted that the country continues to operate with The Interim Jamaica Drinking Water Standard (I-JAM) of 1982, which was never entrenched in any law or regulation.
"The question to be asked is why our government agencies seem to be just living in this state of inertia. argued Diana McCaulay, executive director of JET.
McCaulay was providing details of the findings of the review of the legal and policy framework for air and water quality in the island.
"There are things like pesticides, hormones from drugs that are discharged into the sewage system that get into the water supply.
So many of the pollutants would be absorbed in the aquifers; but that has never been tested," said Greenaway.
"The Water Commission seems to analyse its inflow of water, its source water for a few parameters once a year or so, and then they analyse the treated water for coliform (bacteria) and residual chlorine, but nothing else," he said, listing a range of other harmful pollutants for which tests should be run.