Jamaican Minister Matthew Samuda has announced a comprehensive government strategy to address the critical water shortages still plaguing small rural districts following October 2025’s devastating Hurricane Melissa. During a post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House, Minister Samuda revealed that municipal water systems serving approximately 15% of Jamaica’s population suffered catastrophic damage during the Category 5 hurricane.
The assessment conducted post-Melissa exposed that over 90% of these municipal systems were already in significant disrepair before the hurricane made landfall on October 28, necessitating a complete overhaul rather than simple repairs. This pre-existing vulnerability has dramatically compounded the restoration challenges facing western parishes particularly.
Minister Samuda outlined immediate relief measures including the allocation of $400 million originally designated for water trucking programs to parish councils serving the most affected areas. “We will be making an allocation to each of the parish councils in the areas most affected by Melissa to deal with these small districts,” Samuda stated, promising published figures later this week.
The government is pursuing a dual approach involving both immediate relief and long-term systemic reform. A new social water policy addendum to Jamaica’s national water policy will be developed to address the chronic disrepair of small rural water systems nationwide. This will be accompanied by a completely new operational model for municipal water management and significant training programs for system operators outside the National Water Commission’s utility footprint.
While 93.5% of National Water Commission customers have been restored to service, approximately 33,746 customers remain without reliable water access, primarily in western parishes including St. James, Hanover, Westmoreland, St. Elizabeth, and Trelawny. The government promises a full damage assessment presentation to Parliament within two weeks as Jamaica embarks on a multi-year restoration and modernization initiative for its vulnerable water infrastructure.