State of Water Statistics in Jamaica

1
State of Water Statisticsin Jamaica

• Regional Workshop on Water Accounting
• 1618 July 2007
• Santo Domingo

2
'Land of Wood and Water'

• The Tainos, who inhabited Jamaica before the
  Spanish and the English, called the island
  'Xaymaca' which means the 'Land of Wood and
  Water'.

3
Legislation

• The Water Resources Act of 1995 stated that 'It
  shall be the duty of the Water Resources
  Authority (WRA) to regulate, allocate, conserve
  and otherwise manage the water resources of
  Jamaica.'
• The Jamaica Water Sector Policy 2004 states the
  responsibilities of the different agencies which
  provide water services.

4
Legislation (contd)

• NWC Act 1963 amended 2004
• Flood Control Act
• Linkages to other policies and Acts such as
• the National Forest Management and Conservation
  Plan
• the National Watershed Policy
• the Office of Utilities Regulation Act 1995
• the National Irrigation Development Plan
• the Ministry of Water and Housing Strategic
  Framework
• the National Land Policy
• the National Industrial Policy

5
Water Resources Authority

• Since April 1996, the Water Resources Authority
  (WRA) has had responsibility for the regulation,
  control and management of the nations water
  resources.
• It is the sole water management agency in
  Jamaica.
• Has responsibility for the allocation of water
  resources and oversees the withdrawal of ground
  water from over 640 wells across the island.

6
Other Agencies

• National Water Commission is responsible for the
  urban water supply throughout the island. It is
  also the largest provider of sewerage services.
• National Irrigation Corporation is currently
  responsible for the operation of irrigation
  systems.
• National Environment Planning Agency is the
  environmental management agency and is
  responsible for monitoring water quality under
  its Watershed Branch.
• The ministry responsible for water establishes
  the water policy along with the other water
  agencies.

7
Simplified Water Resources Cycle
Source Caribbean Natural Resources Institute
8
Water Issues

• Competition for water sources
• Protection of surface water from pollution
  sources
• Groundwater contamination
• Unreliable and insufficient water supplies during
  the dry season
• Poor water quality at source
• High treatment costs
• Lack of convenient access to potable water by
  rural households
• Reliance on untreated water from streams and
  rivers by significant proportion of poor
• Resistance to increasing the price paid for water

9
Environment Statistics 2005and Water

• Some information in this publication
• Watersheds
• Water balance
• Sources of water
• Freshwater consumption
• Water pollution
• Conservation measures
• Water standards
• Also includes other statistics relating to the
  environment.

10
Water Balance

• Average Annual Water Balance, 1990 and 2005,
  million m3/year

Source Water Resources Authority
11
Annual Water Production and Revenue by the
NIC(2003/042005/06)
12
Annual Water Demand by Sector, 2004
Source Water Resources Authority
13
Data on Domestic Water 20042006
14
Wastewater

• The NWC collects wastewater and sewage from over
  600,000 customers across the island.
• Wastewater is treated and used for irrigation and
  to cool electricity generating plants.
• This data is not currently being collected.

15
Water Use by SectorEstimated Economic
Contribution and Water Use by Sector, 2005
16
Environment Protection Expenditure

• Objective of the EPE Survey
• The aim of the EPE survey is to determine the
  annual cost of protecting the environment which
  is incurred by enterprises in selected sectors.
  In this survey, the environmental protection
  activities were classified into four domains as
  follows
• Protection of surrounding air
• Wastewater management
• Solid waste management
• Protection of soil, ground water or surface water

17
Expenditure on EPE, 2004
18
National Accounts

• National accounts are prepared in the central
  statistics office the Statistical Institute of
  Jamaica.
• The national accounts calculations are derived
  from volume of water produced consumed and
  sales and revenue from the NWC. Data from private
  water suppliers are not now being included.
• Sales of water for agriculture are included under
  agricultural services.
• Jamaica is in the process of implementing the
  1993 SNA and is preparing a supply/use table
  based on 2000 data.
• There are no plans to implement environmental
  accounting.

19
Gross Domestic Product by Industry in Producers'
Values20042006
20
Thank you.