Jamaica’s National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) will undertake a study on the impact of reverse osmosis (RO) technology, which is a purification process that can be used to transform seawater into potable water.
Reverse osmosis is a multistage water filtration process that is used to remove up to 99.9% of contaminants such as dissolved salts, chemicals, unwanted minerals, and biological substances from seawater. The resulting filtered water would, thereafter, be deemed fit for domestic use.
The study is being facilitated through a $61 million technical assistance grant from the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and will be undertaken at 13 NEPA-approved RO sites islandwide. It will also examine RO systems being utilized in at least four international jurisdictions to determine whether best practices in these territories can be adopted in Jamaica at the industrial or municipal scale and inform the permit process.
The undertaking was formalized during a grant agreement signing ceremony at the local agency’s Caledonia Avenue office in Kingston on Wednesday, July 31. USTDA is the U.S. government’s overseas project preparation agency.
The agreement was signed by NEPA’s Chief Executive Officer Leonard Francis, and USTDA’s Country Manager for Latin American and the Caribbean Lambrini Kolios.
The proceedings were witnessed by the Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation the Hon. Matthew Samuda and His Excellency N. Nickolas Perry, United States Ambassador to Jamaica.