Rainwater
Harvesting is possible the best way to reduce the possibility of another
drought in 2016. Only one little problem; it's actually not legal.
This
as there is no law or regulatory framework governing the use of rainwater as a
source of potable water or irrigation as noted in the article “Rainwater
Harvesting Laws Still Outstanding”, published Monday December 14, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner.
This
may come as a surprise to many Jamaicans, but using rainwater isn't actually
legal but it's not illegal either. Rather if falls into a legal grey area as no
specific section of the Water Resources Act of 1995 law stops you from collecting,
storing and distributing rainwater for personal usage.
So
it should be of interest to Jamaicans to known that Jamaica will soon have an
upgrade to our current Water Sector Policy which has been in place since 1999.
According to JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) Opposition Senator DR Christopher
Tufton, this upgrade is coming soon, albeit he gave no definite timeline for
its implementation.
Good
to note that JLP Opposition Senator DR Christopher Tufton has been advocating
for the implementation of Water Harvesting since who was the former Minister of
Agriculture, has been advocating for legislation governing rainwater Harvesting
since July 2015 as noted in the article “Tufton:
Time to act on rainwater Harvesting resolution”, published Monday, July 06,
2015, The Jamaica Observer.
Rainwater Harvesting Bill
– St. Elizabeth Parish council's Rainwater Policy guideline is the template
The
upgrade may also make it mandatory for ne and current building to have
Rainwater Harvesting as an option to having central Water supply. This as the
Draft Bill for Rainwater Harvesting includes amendments to the Country Planning
act as well as the Building Act.
It
may be modeled off the St. Elizabeth Parish council's Rainwater Policy
guideline, which they issued in august 2015. Their Rainwater Policy guideline
basically stated that any new houses being built can opt to collect and use
rainwater Harvesting even if connected to regular water supply as noted in “Parish
council issues mandatory rainwater Harvesting policy”, published Monday,
August 31, 2015, The Jamaica Observer.
This
is effectively the same thing I've been pointing out needs to be done across
Jamaica as 2016 is looking to be another drought filled year with more food
shortages as predicted in my blog article
entitled “How
the Drought of 2015 means higher prices for Jamaican Christmas 2015 and Easter
2016”.
So
why has it taken the Government of Jamaica so long to address this issue of
Rainwater Harvesting?
Rainwater Harvesting
Bill coming - The Water Resources Authority mandate to be expanded to Rainwater
Harvesting
Rainwater
Harvesting is both legal and yet illegal. Best to describe it as being
non-legal, as no law forbids or allow you to harvest rainwater; it’s really up
to you.
Please
note Rainwater Harvesting strictly relates to capturing water that falls from
the sky in or tank or several collected tanks. If it falls on the ground and
runs into a catchment facility, that’s technically runoff that’s headed towers
a river or underground aquifer for a well.
However,
you cannot distribute rainwater to other people via piping, as access to Potable
Water is controlled by the WRA
(Water Resources Authority) which licenses the NWC as the sole islandwide
distributor of Water via a piped Network.
The
WRA is a little known government agency closely related to NEPA (National
Environment and Planning Agency) that fall under the portfolio of the Ministry
of Water, Land, Environment, and Climate Change.
The
WRA monitors and controls all of Jamaica's water resources both above ground as
well as underground as describe in the history of the WRA.
The WRA was formed by the Water Resources Act of 1995, repealing the
Underground Water Control Act and the Water Act. In 1999, the Water Sector
Policy was established to deal with issues of water distribution across the
island via rivers and wells as well as how to address them.
So
this coming Rainwater Harvesting Bill will not only make it mandatory for
buildings to capture water from the sky, but the Water Resources Act of 1995 as
well as the Water Sector Policy of 1999 will have to be adjusted to allow them
to regular Rainwater as a resource.
Rainwater Harvesting
Bill coming - Country Planning Act and Building Act Amendments point to Free
Water
Upon
careful reading of the Water Resources Act of 1995, no reference is made to the
regulation of rainwater or even even water made using solar desalination as
described in my Geezam blog entitled “How
to Make Distilled Water using a Solar Desalinator”.
Apparently
the law lords who wrote the original Water Resources Act of 1995 did not
foresee Rainwater Harvesting as well as Solar Desalination as a problem, being
as collecting enough water would require large tanks, something that the Act
already covered.
However,
the WRA only has control over water that in a river or well. If you catch it
from the sky before it reaches in either resource controlled by the WRA, it belongs
to you and you can use it as you wish.
Equally,
if you can desalinate dirty water or sea Water via using a Fresnel lens based
solar power as described in my blog article
entitled “How
to upgrade your Solar Desalinator to a Solar Cooker and make a Solar Foundry
for Vacuum Pyrolysis”, it’s also yours.
This
as in using solar desalination, your actually vaporizing the water and
recollecting it, effectively making rain inside of your apparatus. This is the
water equivalent of what Solar Power is to people who use electricity from JPS
Co (Jamaica Public Service Company).
If
you can collect rainwater and make it potable via using evaporation techniques
or even a activated Charcoal filter as described in my blog article
entitled “Going
back to Mother Earth - How to Reuse the Brita Water Filter in Water
Purification Pitcher”, you basically have “free” water.
Rainwater Harvesting
Bill - Net Billing of Rainwater to end NWC’s Water Monopoly
Knowing
this, the Government of Jamaica needs a Policy framework to regulate Rainwater
Harvesting.
This
is necessary before the NWC (National Water Commission) rolls out their digital
water Meters and begins to overcharge us for Water leakage from those old water
pipes in your home as predicted in my blog article
entitled “Why
NWC Digital Water Meters means Water Rate Increase coming in 2016”.
The
Ministry of Water, Land, Environment, and Climate Change, not wanting to lose
revenue from water, may seek to regulate the use of Rainwater Harvesting by
making it Billable using digital water meters.
That
is to say, if you have rainwater collected using your rainwater Harvesting
apparatus, you'll be billed for its usage, as it can be argued that you're
preventing rainwater from reaching rivers and wells that the NWC owns.
This
would be equivalent to Net Billing in electricity involving the JPS Co, only
with the rain from the sky completing the loop. Whether you’ll be able to make
money from the sale of rainwater to the NWC via connecting a pipe back to their
main remains to be seen.
This
would also have to be detailed in the upcoming Rainwater Harvesting Bill as a
Net Billing facility for Rainwater could be a moneymaker for small households
that can collect, purify and distribute rainwater to potable water standards
that the NWC has outlined.
The
Rainwater Harvesting Bill also needs to cover how the Rainwater Distribution
will be regulated. I predict many large collectors of Rainwater would be
interested in going into the businesses of set up community Rainwater
Harvesting Projects to collect, purify and distribute Rainwater using
artificial dams and catchments tanks.
In
short, the Rainwater Harvesting Bill may mark the deregulation of the NWC’s
monopoly on Water Distribution in Jamaica and pave the way for competition from
Rainwater Harvesting Contractors and Entrepreneurs. It may even pave the way
for moisture Harvesting from moisture farms in the future.
So
hopefully, this Rainwater Harvesting Bill will be implemented before the NWC
rolls out their Digital meters. With Jamaica facing a Drought come 2016, a move
needs to be made to make all sources of water usable for drinking as well as
Agricultural purposes before the Drought of 2016 is upon us.
Here’s the link:
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