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World Water Day Mona Reservoir Walkathon for the Blue Mountains
A joint project of the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT) and the National Water Commission (NWC)
The “Mona Reservoir Walk-a-thon for the Blue Mountains” is an awareness and fund-raising event to be held at the Mona Reservoir, Kingston 7 on Saturday, 24th March, 2012 in celebration of World Water Day. Participants will register to walk or jog around the Reservoir to earn contributions which will be donated to the JCDT for its Endowment Fund to support management of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park (BJCMNP) for all time.
About 1,500 persons are already holders of passes to use the Mona Reservoir for exercise and about 250/day use the facilities. For World Water Day, the JCDT together with the NWC invites these persons along with all other interested persons, to think about where the water in the Reservoir comes from and the need to protect the forests in the Blue Mountains, which ensure that supply. With this in mind, we are encouraging everyone who drinks water from the NWC and therefore from the Blue Mountains to register for the walk-a-thon. Participants will use the form provided to collect donations from their family, friends and colleagues to sponsor their walk and/or make their own donation, aiming for at least $2,000. All contributions will go to the JCDT Endowment Fund to support BJCMNP management. In addition, there will be a variety of exhibits about the BJCMNP, the NWC and other water-related agencies and companies at the NWC Mona office and grounds. Schools will be invited to visit the exhibit and tour the NWC water treatment plant.
World Water Day is celebrated on 22nd March each year under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). “Water and Food Security” is the theme for 2012 and the decade 2005 to 2015 has been declared by the UN “International Decade for Action for Water for Life”.
Water for Kingston and St. Andrew comes from the Blue Mountains
The BJCMNP protect the forests of the upper watershed areas which are the source of the water flowing into the Hope and Yallahs Rivers which feed into the Mona Reservoir. The Mona Reservoir supplies significant portions of the population of Kingston and St. Andrew. In addition, water originating in the BJCMNP is consumed by all citizens of eastern Jamaica and supplies the many farms which provide coffee, bananas, fruit and vegetables as well as supporting dairy cattle and other animals.
