Droughts in Jamaica

                                                        Droughts in Jamaica 

There are droughts all over the world especially in Africa. We know that droughts have killed thousands of people for example in Ethiopia. Some of these countries only have one rainy season and if it doesn't come there will be drought. I remembered having to go to a spring for water in the 1960s when we were experiencing a drought. Certain parts of Jamaica will experience drought while rain is falling in other areas. St.Elizabeth has suffered droughts in the past and there are plans to put in an irrigation system for the South East part of the parish. When I lived in rural Jamaica there was a river and two springs near our school. When I went to high school there was a river below our school. In my village there were numerous rivers and springs. On Sundays when   we were going swimming we could choose one of several rivers to go to. We also had two wells, where the water came out of the rocks and was very cool. One of the wells was near to my high school so we would drink water from it to cool after our various sports. One of my main concerns is water conservation and storage. When I lived in the rural areas we stored rain water in drums. We could use it for bathing and cooking. We would have to boil it is we wanted to drink it. In the city we all have tanks but it is piped water we store. All the housing schemes are not developed so that we can have a catchment area for water storage. I think this should be mandatory.