PNP’s Obryan Leighton slams Warmington, Graham for lack of representation

Over the last three months residents served by the National Water Commission (NWC) Claremont facility, say they’ve been experiencing frequent disruption in service without any explanation from the state’s utility company.

The ongoing situation has left residents and business operators fuming, as the constant disruption is having a negative impact on their lives and livelihoods.

Leighton, a first-time entrant into representational politics, and the People’s National Party (PNP) councillor candidate for Old Harbour Central, says those impacted are feeling “neglected”.

“The reality is that the general consensus among residents of Rhone Park is that neither the MP (Member of Parliament) nor councillor is in touch and or as assertive or proactive in handling same matter,” he tells Old Harbour News.

“Residents feel neglected and it is a trend of both political officials to neglect the real needs of the constituents after being elected to these offices

“It is unbecoming that in a community that has a high property tax payment ratio that they have to be faced with such issues in 2024.”

The NWC Claremont facility provides potable water to the communities of Claremont Heights, Darlington Drive and all roads leading off, the Old Harbour town centre, Succaba Gardens, sections of Bannister, among others.

Leighton contends that while water lock-offs are expected within reason, this particular trend is a real cause for concern especially with no communication from the NWC and those elected to serve the people.

“Residents have been complaining a lot that this is affecting them, be it their operations because some persons have their businesses at home; and others are saying that they have to sit up at nights: one o’clock, 12 o’clock, two o’clock to get water sometimes, because that is when the water actually comes on,” he added.

“I personally yesterday during my walks reached out to a contact at the NWC and the explanation given is that they have tried everything at the local level to identify the issue and rectify it. Nonetheless they have been unable to fix the situation that has been brewing for almost over three months. As such they are saying to me that it has to be conducted at a higher level.”

Efforts to comment on the matter from Councillor Steve Graham were unsuccessful. 

For several weeks now, Old Harbour News has been receiving complaints regarding the haphazard service.

When contacted communications manager at the NWC, Delano Williams, disputed claims that supply from the Claremont facility has been infrequent for the last three months.

He said: “Our team from the NWC has noted the reports from the areas. We have done some preliminary checks.

“The first bit of clarification is that we do not have that level of frequency in terms of outages at the operations for Claremont or any of the pumps in that area. I think Graham Well might be the only one that would have had anything worth mentioning in terms of series of outages.

“For the Claremont areas we are also seeing the reports. Our teams have confirmed that the pumps are running; and to that extend now we are having to do some measurements both on the Claremont pump and two other systems that supplement service to a number of the communities.

“We have a number of interconnected well systems in the Old Harbour area and so we are checking on all of those in terms of doing measurements to see that the output is good; and secondly our team is also checking to see if there may be instances of non-visible leaks our major breaks that is causing the shortfall to our customers.”

Williams noted that in the meantime the NWC will activate a regulation programme whereby water will be diverted from other systems to supply those being affected at the moment.