As schools ration water, farmers struggle to earn enough to keep children in class

The prolonged drought gripping St Elizabeth is reaching beyond the parish’s farms, disrupting family incomes and putting pressure on schools to conserve water while keeping classes in session.

In some farming communities, parents are struggling to earn enough from their crops to cover school expenses, while schools are being forced to ration water and depend on trucking to remain operational.

At Pedro Plains Primary School, Principal Wilton Smith said economic strain, rather than the drought itself, has affected school attendance.

“Some parents are unable to send their children to school for a full week because crops are not maturing in a healthy way so that they can get their produce sold so that they can send their children to school,” Smith said.

The principal explained that the school does not consistently receive water through its pipes and has had to depend on the National Water Commission (NWC) to truck water to the institution.

The school has storage tanks, but its ability to harvest rainwater has been severely affected by damage to the roof caused by Hurricane Melissa in October.

Catchment system

largely ineffective

The damaged roof has left the school’s rainwater catchment system largely ineffective.

Smith said the school recently received significant rainfall but was unable to capture it because the roof had not been repaired.

However, the principal said, “As soon as the water level starts to go down, then we order water from the Water Commission so that at no time we run out of water.”

The drought is also affecting the classroom environment.

Smith said temperatures become particularly uncomfortable in the afternoons, despite classrooms being equipped with fans.

While Pedro Plains struggles with water access, Bull Savanna Primary School has been able to rely on a more extensive water-harvesting system.

The school serves more than 400 students and staff.

Vice Principal Arlene Simpson, who has been teaching at the institution for 27 years, said she has not seen a drought this prolonged since 2016.

Bull Savanna has two large tanks and several smaller storage tanks and drums. Its largest tank has a capacity of about 60,000 gallons.

“We seriously harvest water,” Simpson said.

She said the school’s tanks have not gone dry since 2012.

When supplies become low, the NWC trucks water to the school. Simpson said the reserves can sustain the institution for about one-and-a-half to two weeks without another supply.

Still, the school is taking no chances.

Students are restricted from freely using the pipes during the day, while water use in the bathrooms is monitored.

“We are cognisant of the fact that it is a drought and we are trying to hold on to as much water as we can because NWC too has their restrictions,” Simpson said.

At Top Hill Primary School, another drought-affected institution, water conservation has also become part of the daily routine.

Principal Cavine Bisasor-Hedlam said the school, which has 138 students and 12 staff members, should receive piped water from the NWC but has not been getting a consistent supply.

Instead, the school has been relying on water trucked by the utility company, with assistance from the member of parliament.

“Top Hill is located on a drought belt, where drought is an annual thing. This year it has been worse. For many years, this is the worst we have seen it,” Bisasor-Hedlam said.

Similar to Bull Savanna, Top Hill has also introduced restrictions on water use, including monitoring students when they use the bathrooms and reducing the frequency of activities that require significant amounts of water.

“Some things that we would normally do daily, we now do weekly,” she said.

Even routine cleaning has been scaled back, while watering plants has stopped.

Recent rainfall provided some relief, but Bisasor-Hedlam said the school was unable to harvest much of it because its gutters were also damaged during the storm.

For the schools, the objective remains the same: conserve enough water to keep their doors open and students learning.

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