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Tanks & Taps Jamaica

House plumbing and water in Jamaica

What is going on with the water at your house?

Pick what is happening below. Each stack is a short set of numbered cards: one question, a plain answer, who handles it, and where we read it. We are not contractors and this site sells nothing itself, though some stacks link to shops with the same owners, marked where they appear.

Built for phones and metered data. Every stack shows its size before you tap, pictures counted. Your first visit also fetches the site's fonts and styles, about 40 KB, once. Videos use no data until you press play.

The water is locked off

Lock-offs, tanks and what to do on a dry day · 5 stacks
Water locked off: what to do now10 cards · 48 KBHow big should your water tank be?10 cards · 45 KBShould your water tank go on the roof or the ground?9 cards · 42 KBHow to clean a water tank safely9 cards · 33 KBMosquitoes breeding in your water tank9 cards · 46 KB

Water comes, but only a trickle

Pumps, pressure tanks and weak taps · 2 stacks
How a water pump and pressure tank work together9 cards · 25 KBLow water pressure in the house: finding the cause9 cards · 25 KB

The NWC bill looks wrong

Charges, connections and your rights · 3 stacks
What each line on your NWC bill means10 cards · 53 KBWhy is my NWC bill so high?10 cards · 36 KBGetting a new NWC water connection9 cards · 53 KB

Rain, wells and springs

Water from your own roof or land · 3 stacks
Setting up a house to catch rainwater9 cards · 83 KBIs rainwater safe to drink?9 cards · 32 KBA well or spring on your land: licence, testing, risks9 cards · 10 KB

The pit or the septic is giving trouble

Cesspools, septic tanks, soakaways and sewers · 3 stacks
Cesspool, septic tank or soakaway: which do you have?8 cards · 49 KBWho approves a septic tank in Jamaica?9 cards · 66 KBHow do you know a cesspool is full?8 cards · 148 KB

Hot water and gas

Electric shower heads, solar heaters and LPG · 3 stacks
Are electric shower heads safe, and what makes them dangerous?9 cards · 16 KBWhat to check before putting a solar heater up9 cards · 53 KBYou smell gas from the LPG cylinder. What now?9 cards · 33 KB

A storm is coming, or just passed

Before the hurricane, drinking water after, flood damage · 3 stacks
Water and plumbing jobs to do before a hurricane9 cards · 23 KBMaking drinking water safe after a storm9 cards · 32 KBThe yard flooded. What about the tank and the septic?9 cards · 94 KB

White crust and green rust

Hard water and salt air · 2 stacks
Is the water hard where you live in Jamaica?10 cards · 18 KBWhat salt air does to plumbing near the sea10 cards · 99 KB

Building or adding on

Approvals, drains and finding a plumber · 2 stacks
Do you need building approval for plumbing work?9 cards · 38 KBHow to choose a plumber in Jamaica10 cards · 24 KB

Where you live

Kingston and St Andrew first, then the rest of the island · 4 stacks
Kingston and St Andrew: why the water locks off10 cards · 32 KBPortmore and St Catherine: what we know about your water9 cards · 36 KBMontego Bay and the west: where the water comes from9 cards · 96 KBMandeville and the rural parishes: water when pipes fall short9 cards · 21 KB
Single-storey house with a gable roof, veranda and steps among garden plants at Half Way Tree
A house at Half Way Tree, Kingston, in 1988.

Kingston and St Andrew come first here because that is where most of the documents are. For the rest of the island, go to water and building offices by parish.

What we could and could not read

We read the National Water Commission, the Water Resources Authority, ODPEM and most of NEPA's pages, plus building pages from Kingston and St Andrew, St James and Manchester. Portmore's page showed no text and we did not read the other corporations. The Ministry of Health and Wellness and Office of Utilities Regulation sites would not open for us, so their words come through the Jamaica Information Service, an archived copy or NWC's own pages, and cards say so. How we work.