Nearly $200,000 in debt but no water - 74-y-o paying for a dry pipe

Miss Ivy* climbs the hill to her home in Hope Flats, St Andrew, with a stick in one hand and two water bills in the other, telling her that she owes nearly $200,000 for a service she said she hasn't received in five years.

The 74-year-old spends $5,000 a week on trucked water just to survive, rationing every bucket for bathing, cooking, and flushing. Yet the National Water Commission (NWC) continues to send her bills. As of June, in bills seen by the news team, the NWC said Miss Ivy owed $188,562.43.

"Five year now mi nuh get one drop inna di pipe," she said. "And every month, mi still a get wata bill, big bill. Bigger than mi light." Though the monthly usage is less than $3,000 since April, Miss Ivy is puzzled as to where the massive debt is coming from. It is unclear when she first saw the huge debt. She paused and looked down at the printed bills in her hand.

"How must I pay this and pay five grand fi water every week?"

In Miss Ivy's home, every drop of water is accounted for. Rainwater, when it comes, is caught in basins and stored in barrels. There is no room for waste.

"Mi use one pan fi bathe, mi save that fi flush the toilet, mi use one pan fi wash the clothes, mi save the rinsing water fi mop out the house," she said. "This is the land of wood and water but up yaso a pure drought."

Miss Ivy said she does not have the means to keep up with the bills, and doesn't understand why she is being charged in the first place.

"Mi cya afford it," she said gazing at the water meter. "Dem charge me like me have swimming pool and mi nuh use my pipes in years." She said she especially feels aggrieved when she has to tell her grandchildren to use less water.

"Is like mi a rob dem a comfort mi never get either." She recalled that decades ago, water was far from abundant, but still came.

"Now all mi get is a piece a paper weh tell mi mi owe fi pipe weh nuh run," she said.

Not far from her home, a group of men playing dominoes shared in the senior citizen's frustration.

"Mi cya believe seh a 2025, modern modern time we inna, we a celebrate Independence Day today (yesterday) and mi still a carry wata pon mi head," one man said. A part-time taxi operator said the water crisis has even become an income stream.

"People charter mi car fi go look wata sometimes," he said. "Mi mek a dollar, but mi woulda rather dem fix di ting. Is not a hustle mi proud of."

At the community's edge sit two large black water tanks, fenced in and idle. Residents say the tanks were installed months ago and are supposed to be connected to a nearby hillside spring. The authorities told them that water would start flowing by today.

"Dem seh August. But we hear promise before," Miss Ivy said. "Mi nuh hold mi breath."

Nicole, who has lived in the area for more than 20 years, also expressed doubt. She explained that the water is expected to come from a spring that residents already use in emergencies.

"A di same wata people use fi wash clothes," she told THE STAR. "All a dat a go inna di tank? Mi cya trust dat."

"We need a permanent more structured solution. It can't be that hard," she added.

Nicole lives with her daughter and said the water she buys from the truck weekly doesn't last. She often has to improvise just to stretch what little they have, including showering at a friend's house. She's developed a system - bottled water to drink, trucked water for bathing, and rainwater for flushing.

"You haffi plan every use. Is like water turn accountant work," she said.

THE STAR tried unsuccessfully to get a comment from Delano Williams, acting corporate public relations manager at the NWC.

*Name changed to protect identity