Every August 6, we celebrate the courage of those who imagined a nation capable of governing itself, determining its own future, and charting a path distinct from colonial rule. We honour our athletes, our musicians, our culture, our resilience, and our remarkable ability to persevere through adversity. Independence Day rightly fills us with pride.
Yet, anniversaries are also moments for honest reflection. Put the pageantry and patriotic speeches aside for a moment. Let us ask ourselves a hard question: What does independence truly mean 64 years after the Union Jack was lowered and the Jamaican flag was first raised?
Political sovereignty is one measure of national success, and it is a big one. But genuine independence means freedom from the hardships that make everyday life taxing, burdensome, and substandard for the average Jamaican. True independence is measured by functioning institutions, reliable infrastructure, economic opportunity, public safety, quality healthcare and education and, perhaps most fundamentally, by clean, potable water.
One of the greatest misconceptions about development is that it can be measured only by looking at skyscrapers, highways, or GDP figures. Those things matter, but they are not necessarily what ordinary people experience every day.
Development is experienced in the ordinary. It is experienced when electricity remains on, when garbage is collected, when roads are maintained, when public transport functions and, perhaps above everything else, when the average Jamaican turns the tap on and clean drinking water comes out.
Reliable access to potable water may well be the greatest single indicator that a country has successfully developed. Water is civilisation’s first requirement. Without it, there can be no modern economy. Hospitals, schools, hotels, restaurants, factories, farms (the list goes on) all need it. Households also need water to maintain basic health and dignity.
The availability of clean, reliable water tells us something profound about a country’s engineering capacity, governance, investment priorities, and long-term planning. It demonstrates whether governments have successfully transformed natural resources into dependable public infrastructure. In many ways, the state of a country’s water system serves as a report card on its overall level of development.
How do we score? Well, almost every summer, water gets rationed. First, probably in or around May, the weatherman says we are experiencing a drought. Then, shortly after that, we hear that the Mona Reservoir or some other reservoir is at half capacity. Somewhere between June and July, there may be appeals, whether from a politician or an NWC representative, for Jamaicans to conserve water and stop washing their cars and watering their gardens. Then the big day arrives when the NWC rolls out the annual water lock-off schedule. From then until the end of summer, some communities will have water from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and others from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The water is hardly ever on time, by the way.
The same cycle repeats itself every year, unless there is a hurricane. Water lock-offs have become an accepted feature of life in the Corporate Area. Families organise their daily routines around announced supply schedules instead of assuming that water will simply be there when needed.
It is worrying how normal this has become. At least an entire generation has grown accustomed to planning around shortages that would be viewed as exceptional emergencies in many developed nations. We discuss lock-offs with remarkable calm, almost as though interruptions to one of life’s most essential services are inevitable. That should not be.
Yes, the climate is changing. Yes, the population has grown over the years. Blah, blah, blah. These are genuine pressures confronting all our Caribbean neighbours, and yet somehow this issue seems to plague Jamaica more than most.
Successful nations distinguish themselves not by the absence of challenges, but by the quality of their responses. Elsewhere in the Caribbean, governments facing similar geographical limitations have increasingly invested in technologies designed to diversify and secure their water supplies. Several islands have turned to seawater desalination to convert the abundant waters of the Caribbean Sea into a dependable source of fresh water. While desalination requires significant capital investment and carries energy costs, some governments understand that the consistent and reliable provision of clean water is paramount.
Countries with fewer rivers, less rainfall, and smaller land masses have recognised that depending almost exclusively on natural freshwater sources exposes them to unnecessary vulnerability. They have responded by building resilience into their water systems.
Jamaica, despite being one of the Caribbean’s larger islands and possessing substantial technical expertise, has not embraced desalination as a central pillar of national water policy. Instead, we continue to rely predominantly on rainfall, rivers, aquifers, and reservoirs that become increasingly stressed during extended dry periods. As climate variability intensifies, the limitations of this approach become more evident year after year.
The broader lesson extends beyond water itself.
Development is ultimately about anticipation rather than reaction. Developed countries do not merely respond to predictable crises after they occur. They invest decades in advance to reduce the likelihood of these crises happening at all.
That is the mindset Jamaica has to adopt if we are to fulfil the promise envisioned in 1962. What we too often lack is a sustained national commitment to long-term infrastructure planning that extends beyond electoral cycles.
Patriotism should inspire ambition, not complacency. The Jamaica we celebrate should also be the Jamaica we continue to build. The day every Jamaican can expect clean, reliable water, not occasionally or seasonally, but every single day, will mark not just an engineering achievement but a national one. And, when that day comes, our Independence celebrations will mean just a little bit more.
Kristen Gyles is a free-thinking public affairs opinionator. Send feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com
