We did dam it...in the 40s

Dear Editor,

The splendid photograph on last Sunday's Agenda of a rushing, bubbling stream with a picturesque bridge in the background was breathtaking.

Scenes like this must inspire lovers of nature, such as Diana McCaulay and Peter Espeut, to continue to articulate the obvious to the unknowing and the uncaring.

However, the caption "We haven't built a dam...since the 1920s" needs elaboration.

In the 1940s the reservoir at Mona was built. A dam was also constructed on the Hope River then a lively stream, whose waters were channelled to the reservoir as the main source of supply.

Severe deforestation and poor farming practices have depleted the stream to a miserly flow nowadays and create flood devastation during and after heavy rains.

In the 1980s an inlet was constructed on the lower Yallahs River in St Thomas, which captured water, piped across hill and dale, to flow into and provide the main source of the Mona Reservoir.

Let this titbit be noted for the record.

Courtney Ilgner

Kingston 8

We did dam it...in the 40s

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