$1m water bill - Hellshire fishing village pipes empty since January

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$1m water bill - Hellshire fishing village pipes empty since January

A WHOPPING $1 million water bill has forced the National Water Commission (NWC) to disconnect water supply from the Hellshire fishing village, THE STAR understands.
The water was disconnected several months ago after residents and vendors on the beach failed to pay the staggering $1 million bill since the start of the year.
The Hellshire fishing village is home to the famed Hellshire fry fish and festival meal.

Raised concerns
The absence of running water has forced many of the food operators and residents who live and work on the beach to store water in drums or use sea water to carry out some of their functions. This practice has raised concerns about the food safety.
Desmond Abrahams, former vice- President and member of the Half-Moon Bay Fishermen Cooperative Society confirmed that the village has been without water since the beginning of the year.
"It has been disconnected from the early part of the year because we owe a lot of money on the bill," he said.
Bad management
"Is a lot of things cause it. For one it wasn't being managed properly as some people were paying and some weren't. We used to come together and pay it. But because some people weren't paying, things got out of hand," Mr Abraham said.
Since then, although cooking and other activities have continued on the beach, the fisherfolk have had to get water from outside the beach. Mr. Abrahams said a man with a van transported drums and buckets of water to the beach for a fee.
"Everybody has got drums and buckets and some people have their tanks. It is sanitary because we change the water every day," he said.
He added that since the disconnection, concerns have been raised about how the food was prepared. He added, though, that the vendors were cautious with the preparation of the food.
"We have heard rumours about people using sea water to prepare the food but that is a lie as sea water cannot prepare food. They may use sea water to wet up the area to keep the sand down but no sea water has been used to prepare the food," he said.
THE STAR was unable to find out from the St. Catherine Health Department if there were any reports against the vendors at Hellshire fishing village. As, both the chief public health inspector and his deputy were said to be out of office.

Under scrutiny
However, the Portmore Municipal Office said to date, while they are aware that the water was disconnected, they have received no reports of breaches of the Public Health Act.
This is not the first time the beach has come under scrutiny as earlier this year concerns were raised about conditions on the beach after the water was disconnected.
At the time however, Leon Thomas, councillor for the division said that the matter was being addressed by the residents. Mr Abrahams, in the meantime has said the residents were organising several fund-raising activities to clear the bill