National Water Commission upgrades water treatment facilities in Jamaica

The National Water Commission (NWC) in Jamaica has opened the refurbished Mona and Hope water treatment facilities in southeastern Saint Andrew Parish.

Upgrade work worth JMD1.6bn ($12.1m) was carried out on the Mona and Hope facilities, restoring them to their designed capacities of 16 million gallons per day (mg/d) and 6.5 mg/d, respectively.

Jamaica Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change Minister Robert Pickersgill said: "While the preparatory process was long, however, I also note with pleasure that once construction started, the work proceeded apace enabling the completion of the project works on time and within budget.

"These 2 facilities also serve some of the country’s most critical institutions – UHWI, National Chest Hospital, KPH, Independence Park Complex including the National Stadium, Gordon House, UWI, UTech, to name just a few."

In addition, the facilities serve important business districts, including New Kingston, the Liguanea area central Kingston and other leading sectors of the country.

The rehabilitation work included the intake structure on the Hope River, an aqueduct, over 2 miles of raw water channels, gravel and silt traps, rapid gravity filters and replacing filter media.

The project also included installing automation and regulation controls and equipment, new meters and valves, rehabilitating chemical dosing equipment and adding new chlorination facilities, repairing existing buildings and repairs and modifications to the settlement tank.