I wish to make an urgent appeal to the National Water Commission (NWC) on behalf of the citizens of Lluidas Vale, a rural community in northwest St Catherine.

For the past three weeks, at least, the community has been without a supply of water. There has been no formal communication from the NWC. If water is life, according to the NWC's mantra, then that community is dead. The current state of affairs is a case of déja vu.

No water for summer

During the summer, the community was without piped water for at least six weeks. The residents are being forced to purchase water for drinking and other domestic purposes on a daily basis. This is untenable for several reasons: chief among these are that the water being purchased is not guaranteed to be clean and this unplanned expense is too much for a community whose income stream is very low.

In this age of the H1N1 virus (swine flu), the hand-foot-and-mouth disease as well as other viral threats, I am craving the intervention of the NWC and asking that this matter be dealt with immediately.

I want to believe that we can still get things done in this country without resorting to mayhem, as is often the case when roadblocks are mounted to protest our many and ever-increasing social ills.

NWC, swift action, please.

I am, etc.,

ANYA BISSESSAR

Mona

Kingston 7