Residents of Jost Van Dyke (JVD) have been forced to bathe with seawater and are unable to flush their toilets as the sister island continues to endure weeks without running water.
Second District Representative and Opposition Member Melvin ‘Mitch’ Turnbull raised the troubling situation during today’s, July 10 House of Assembly sitting, saying residents have been without running water for approximately three and a half weeks.
“Our people who pay taxes and contribute to our society [are] having to go into sea water to bathe their skin because there’s no water running in Jost Van Dyke,” Turnbull said.
He added that businesses have been forced to close, while families are struggling to bathe, care for their children and meet other basic needs.
“You can’t flush your toilet, you can’t bathe, you can’t do nothing except use the sea water,” he said.
Turnbull said the problem extends beyond Jost Van Dyke, with residents across the Territory struggling with when, or whether, they will receive water.
He said an emergency meeting was held at the Jost Van Dyke Primary School on Wednesday evening with Minister for Communications and Works Hon. Kye Rymer and his team. Residents proposed possible solutions, including placing a water truck on the island within two weeks and establishing a standpipe where people can collect water.
"We are holding the minister to account because within the next two weeks, we're hoping that there'll be a water truck on Jost Van Dyke," Turnbull noted.
As the Territory’s water crisis continues, Rymer acknowledged in a statement on Wednesday the frustration and hardship facing families. He attributed the problems to decades-old distribution lines, deteriorating reservoirs, inoperable pressure-management systems and the closure of water plants at Sea Cows Bay and Baughers Bay. Rymer said the longstanding problems cannot be resolved overnight but maintained that the Government is committed to improving the system.
Second District Representative and Opposition Member Melvin ‘Mitch’ Turnbull raised the troubling situation during today’s, July 10 House of Assembly sitting, saying residents have been without running water for approximately three and a half weeks.
“Our people who pay taxes and contribute to our society [are] having to go into sea water to bathe their skin because there’s no water running in Jost Van Dyke,” Turnbull said.
He added that businesses have been forced to close, while families are struggling to bathe, care for their children and meet other basic needs.
“You can’t flush your toilet, you can’t bathe, you can’t do nothing except use the sea water,” he said.
Turnbull said the problem extends beyond Jost Van Dyke, with residents across the Territory struggling with when, or whether, they will receive water.
He said an emergency meeting was held at the Jost Van Dyke Primary School on Wednesday evening with Minister for Communications and Works Hon. Kye Rymer and his team. Residents proposed possible solutions, including placing a water truck on the island within two weeks and establishing a standpipe where people can collect water.
"We are holding the minister to account because within the next two weeks, we're hoping that there'll be a water truck on Jost Van Dyke," Turnbull noted.
As the Territory’s water crisis continues, Rymer acknowledged in a statement on Wednesday the frustration and hardship facing families. He attributed the problems to decades-old distribution lines, deteriorating reservoirs, inoperable pressure-management systems and the closure of water plants at Sea Cows Bay and Baughers Bay. Rymer said the longstanding problems cannot be resolved overnight but maintained that the Government is committed to improving the system.
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