States Minutes 17th August 1989

STATES MINUTES 1 7t h A ugust, 1989

THE STATES assembled on Thursday, 17th August, 1989 at 12 noon under

t he Presidency of the Bailiff ,

S i r P eter Crill, C.B.E.

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All Members were present with the exception of -

S enator Betty Brooke - ill.

S nowdon George Robins, Connétable of S t. Saviour - absent.

R obin Ernest Richard Rumboll, Deputy

o f St. Helier - out of the Island.

C ynthia Miriam Rumboll, Deputy of St. H elier - out of the Island.

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P r aye rs

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Declaration of State of Emergency.

The Bailiff informed the House

that the Lieutenant-Governor had issued the following Declaration -

DECLARATION OF STATE OF EMERGENCY

W HEREAS the Emergency Powers (Jersey) Law, 1964, enacts that if it appears to the Lieutenant-Governor that there have

occurred, or are about to occur, events of

such a nature as to be calculated, by interfering with either the supply and distribution of food, water, fuel or light,

or with the means of locomotion, to deprive the Community or any substantial proportion of the Community, of the essentials of

life, the Lieutenant-Governor may declare

that a state of emergency exists;

A ND WHEREAS it appears to me that the present water shortage has created an emergency within the meaning of the said Law;

N OW therefore, in pursuance of the said Law, I hereby declare a state of emergency exists.

D ated this fifteenth day of August,

one thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine.

W .T . P ILLAR

L ieutenant-Governor of Jersey''

Subordinate legislation tabled.

The following enactment was laid before the States, namely -

E mergency Powers (Control of Water) ( Jersey) Order, 1989.

State of Emergency - water rationing. Statement.

The President of the Public Works Committee made a statement in the following terms -

Last week the Jersey New Waterworks C ompany informed you, Sir, and the

P ublic Works Committee that the usable w ater left in the Company's reservoirs

h ad fallen to 150 million gallons and

t hat the loss of water from store

c ontinued at the rate of 10 million

gallons per week.

T his situation arose largely because

o f the reduction of the quantity of

w ater reaching the Company's

r eservoirs from the streams within the c atchment area, and notwithstanding t he continuing fall in daily

c onsumption of water supplied by the C ompany to an average of 3.7 million g allons per day. In general, about

h alf the yield of these streams

r eached the reservoirs but, on

o ccasions, significantly less than

h alf did so, the balance being

a bstracted by land owners principally f or the irrigation of farm land and

c rops.

I t was the opinion of the Company

t hat, unless significant rain fell

o ver the weekend or the forecast held

o ut the prospect of wet weather in the

i mmediate future, the time would have a rrived for more stringent measures to b e taken to limit both consumption and a bstraction of water if the Island's

s upply of water was to be safeguarded.

I n the event an average of less than ¼ inch of rain fell over the weekend a nd the forecast is for a return of

h igh pressure and hot dry weather.

A ccordingly, Sir, you were advised on M onday of the need to request His

E xcellency the Lieutenant Governor to d eclare a State of Emergency as the

o nly means by which statutory controls c ould be introduced. The objective of

t hese controls will be to reduce the

l oss of water in store to

a pproximately 4 million gallons per

w eek.

H is Excellency signed a Declaration at 9 .30 a.m. on Tuesday, which enabled

t he Defence Committee to make the

O rder which was tabled in the House

t his morning. This Order has enabled

t he Public Works Committee to impose s tatutory restrictions on both

c onsumption and abstraction.

T he Order and the restrictions have

a lready been published in the press. I

w ould remind the House that all

c onsumers are prohibited from using

C ompany water for certain purposes but d omestic consumers are otherwise only r estricted in as much as it is their

p ublic responsibility to be economical

i n the use of water.

C ommercial consumers in three

c ategories are required to reduce

t heir consumption by 10, 20 and 30 per c ent respectively.

T he control of abstraction of water is m ore difficult to impose. In 1976 the

o nly statutory control was to ban the u se of private supplies for use in

a utomatic car washing apparatus. A v ery successful attempt was made by n egotiation to limit abstractions by

l and owners of water that was within t he catchment areas to the reservoirs t o that quantity required for strictly e ssential purposes.

S ince 1976 there has been a

p roliferation in the number of bore h oles providing water for domestic, c ommercial and farm use and their

u nrestricted use will have an

i nevitable effect on underground water r esources and the strength of springs

f eeding streams within the Island. The u se of overhead and trickle irrigation h as expanded a great deal during the

p ast thirteen years.

I t is for this reason and in order to

i mprove the intake of water into the

C ompany's reservoirs that a ban on

i rrigation except between the hours of

1 1.00 p.m. and 3.00 a.m. has been

i mposed. The hours have been chosen to e nsure the maximum benefit from the

w ater that is used and to avoid the

e xcessively wasteful application of

w ater to hot land by overhead

s prinklers during the heat of the day.

T he hours chosen should also serve to

d iscourage the use of irrigation

s ystems for anything other than the

m ost essential purposes.

I t is accepted that irrigation between

t hese hours might produce some

n uisance from the noise emitted by the e quipment employed, but for the

r easons I have just explained and in

o rder to accommodate those who derive t heir living from the land, the

C ommittee expects neighbours to be

u nderstanding.

I am sure the House will understand

t hat all the Committee can do in the

p resent circumstances is to appeal to

a ll those with their own water

s upplies, and particularly those with

s upplies derived from bore holes, to

v oluntarily exercise the same economy

i n the use of water as though their

s upplies were derived entirely from

t he Company. The problems which would a rise from an acute shortage of water

w ould affect everyone equally, and it

i s very much hoped that those with

r esources of their own will appreciate

t heir obligation to economise to the

s ame extent as those on whom

r estrictions are placed.

A rticle 8 of the Order gives the

C ommittee discretion to grant

e xemptions or modifications to the r estrictions which are imposed.

A ppeals against restrictions are to b e made in the first instance to the J ersey New Waterworks Company on the a ppropriate form and only if they

r emain unresolved by the Company will t hey be adjudicated upon by the

C ommittee. A member of the Public

W orks Committee will act as the

C hairman of the Appeals Panel with not l ess than two further members drawn

f rom the Public Health, Agriculture

a nd Fisheries or Tourism Committees.

T he administration of the restrictions

w ill be undertaken from an office in

t his building, (telephone 77111

e xtension 170 or 171) and Lieutenant

C olonel W. Clayden, Emergency Planning O fficer, has undertaken the

s upervision of this office and to act

a s Secretary to the Panel.

I am indebted to the Defence,

A griculture and Fisheries and Tourism C ommittees for their advice and co-

o peration in all that has taken place

i n advance of a State of Emergency

b eing declared.

I n conclusion, Sir, I would like to

e xpress the Committee's thanks to all

t hose who have contributed to reducing t he inevitable problems caused by the

a bnormally low rainfall in the last 3½ m onths, amounting to 2.11 inches

c ompared to the 124 year average of

6 .86 inches. In particular, we thank

t hose customers who have voluntarily

r educed consumption, and the staff of

t he Waterworks Company who are

s houldering a greatly increased

w orkload, especially those operating

t he desalination plant, which has been

o perating every day since June 10th

a nd which has now produced 83 million g allons of water, without which we

w ould be in a very much more serious s ituation.''

THE STATES rose at 12.15 p.m.

E .J .M. P O TTER G r ef fier of the States.