National Water Commission of Jamaica

Business View Caribbean 7 nue water (NRW). One reason is due to the country’s aging infrastructure and another is because of non- payment of bills and/or pilfering of water resources by segments of the population. “That is what we are now grappling with,” says Barnett, ruefully. “We have high physical losses in our network – we have infrastruc- ture that is probably more than a hundred years old - coupled with the fact that we have dispersed commu- nities that are socially and economically challenged, creating its own challenges for the enterprise to bill and collect for water that we produce and distribute in some of those areas.” Regarding the NWC’s infrastructure, Barnett admits that the level of investment undertaken when it was first formed was far below what it should have been, based on the system’s expected utilization. “When we were established in 1980, there was no real capi- talization of the enterprise to renew its assets,” he states. “And, therefore, we were only able to invest as the resources came available. So, investment in the early stage was very low. We did not invest as much as we should.” Barnett believes that controlling water loss is one of the NWC’s main challenges, and that solving that problem will lower the agency’s costs, considerably. “I consider the reduction of water loss as a new supply,” he says. “Meaning, if I can reduce my losses from the water that I already produced and distributed, then I’ll be able to add more customers and encourage more development because more water is readily available. And the agency can become more efficient just by tackling one major problem. So, that is where my main focus is, because there is a direct correlation between high NRW and high energy costs.” Barnett’s spotlight on saving money is based on his desire that the NWC could become, someday, profit- able enough to be a contributor to the government’s