As trying as they too often are to their customers, most Jamaicans do not believe that the managers of the National Water Commission (NWC) are fools, who did not go to school, as the company's CEO, Mr E.G. Hunter, recently protested wasn't the case.

Indeed, people understand that to provide water and sewerage services and to repair broken pipes sometimes require that the NWC excavate roads and cut trenches. It is all part of modern life, exacerbated, in our case, by the fact that the NWC's systems tend to be older and therefore subject to more frequent damage, and thus repairs.

Perhaps the way to go would be for a grand overhaul by the NWC of its underground pipes, except that it lacks the capital to undertake such a massive project, for which it would ask consumers to pay.

Contention points

But while we accept the commission's assertion, declared in newspaper advertisements yesterday, that it does not at anytime "excavate road surfaces if it is not necessary", we do have points of contention with the NWC.

The first of these is how it times its work and coordinates with other agencies in the development and execution of its projects. The NWC says it tries and does. The evidence, to us, suggests that this is not done rigorously enough.

Often, for example, a road that has long been in disrepair is finally fixed, with the expenditure of millions of taxpayer dollars, to be followed shortly thereafter by a major project by the NWC that demands its excavation for the laying of pipes.

We understand, of course, that the project cycles between one agency and the other may not coincide or that there may be a lag time for project financing. But while such occurrences are expected, we expect that in a rational, proactive environment geared to the efficient use of resources, they will be more the exception than the rule. That appears not to be the case with the NWC.

Not good enough

We, as well as many people, also question the NWC's declared commitment "to do its best to repair and restore the area that it has cut in the shortest possible time". Or, if the commission does its best, it is clearly not good enough.

Across the capital, and elsewhere in Jamaica, remains evidence of recent projects by the NWC: mounds of dirt and/or partially opened and poorly marked trenches, which pose dangers to motorists.

These excavations may be "repaired", only to reopen in short-order, under the pressure of vehicular traffic or the first decent shower of rain. Maybe it is beyond the capacity, or responsibility, of the NWC to effect full restoration in the wake of its projects, but that underlines the need for the enhanced coordination between the utilities, such as we have proposed.

So, even as we sympathise with the NWC that, given the nature of its basis for laying pipes underground and often digging is the only option, we remain unconvinced that greater rationality cannot be brought to the process.

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