THE NATIONAL Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) is considering an ambitious plan, which would involve building a new toll road to bypass the Bog Walk gorge in St Catherine. The move would facilitate the creation of a massive dam in that area to provide potable water to the Kingston Metropolitan Region.

If the multibillion-dollar project goes through, the new dam would store 1.8 billion gallons of water, about twice the capacity of the Mona Reservoir, and provide 107 million gallons of water each day, which would be about five times what is supplied by the Mona Reservoir.

New bypass to stem looming problem

This could solve a looming problem for Jamaica as studies estimate that unless there is an increase in water supply, the Kingston and St Andrew area will be short of approximately 25 million gallons of potable water each day by 2015.

"We have done some studies which look at the possibility of damming the gorge, and the new bypass would allow this possibility to take place," NROCC head, Ivan Anderson, disclosed recently.

"We are looking at that now and trying to finalise the geo-technical and topographic studies which are required to take that one step further, but that could have a significant impact on the entire country," Anderson added.

He noted, however, that the funding has not yet been identified to finance the damming of the gorge or to pay for the crucial geo-technical studies.

Until the studies are done, it will not be known how much leakage, if any, would occur, and a final determination will not be made until all the facts are in.

But even as these studies are being done, NROCC is excited about the possibilities which could open up with the construction of a massive dam in Bog Walk.

"There is the hydroelectricity potential as the dam could generate 45 megawatts of power per day. It could have tourism potential. We could have housing developments around the dam and it could help to alleviate some of the downstream flooding," Anderson said.

That excitement is not shared by the Water Resources Authority, which is examining the proposal to submit a report to water minister Horace Chang.

"I'm not as optimistic as Mr Anderson, but I'm going to submit a report to my minister, who I'm sure, will share it with Parliament," Basil Fernandez, head of the Water Resources Authority, told The Sunday Gleaner, while declining to provide additional details.

This is not the first time that a proposal has been put on the table to dam the Bog Walk gorge. In 2005, following one of the now-regular floodings of the area, then works minister, Robert Pickersgill, floated the idea of forcing all traffic through Sligoville and damming the gorge.

Impractical

In an instant response, former Prime Minister, Edward Seaga, sank the idea, describing it as impractical.

"The geological composition of the gorge would not provide the level of retention for storage. The rock material is too permeable," Seaga said at that time. "There is a much better prospect for dealing with the Rio Cobre to bring its flood waters under control, which now flow uselessly to the sea. This excess can flow to productive use."

But the concern about the level of retention is one NROCC has already considered and it appears satisfied that this will not be an issue.

"We have had some consultants come in, look at the characteristics of the material we have in the gorge and they have assured us that many hundreds of dams all over the world have been built on similar material," Anderson said.