With water restrictions on in earnest for the Corporate Area, chief public health inspector for Kingston and St Andrew Grayson Hutchinson says officers are maintaining their vigilance in monitoring vendors and food establishments while carrying out their other duties and responsibilities.

Since earlier this year, nightly water restrictions and scheduled supply cuts have been implemented for several vulnerable Corporate Area communities with prohibition orders looming effective August 10 if drought conditions worsen. Up to last week, projections from the Meteorological Service of Jamaica showed prolonged dry conditions stretching into October this year. According to principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica Evan Thompson, as at the end of June the parishes of St Elizabeth, St James, St Ann, and St Mary “were determined to be experiencing drought conditions” while the parishes of Manchester and St Catherine “were both basically on the borderline, in that they were just about moving toward drought conditions”.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday, Hutchinson said health inspectors will not relax their stance.