The St. Ann parish council will be making available $2 million to facilitate the emergency trucking of water across the parish over this weekend.

This was revealed during the general monthly meeting of the council Thursday.

The dire need for water in many divisions of the parish, dominated Thursday’s council meeting.

The council was first told by the superintendent of roads and works that an engine has been ordered from England, to repair the only water truck owned by the council.

Many councillors were not satisfied with this, saying the truck has been out of order for more than three months, one councillor said almost six months, and that the council should have been hearing today that the truck was repaired and ready to go.

Then one by one most councillors rose from their seats lamenting the dire need for water in their divisions, with several saying they would not leave Thursday’s council meeting without a definitive action plan for how the needs of their constituents would be met.

Among those highlighting the need was Councillor Marlon Garvey of the Sturge Town division, who says he has received numerous calls from residents asking when water will be trucked into their areas.

And councillor for the Dry Harbour Division, Arthur Clemetson says with the council’s truck out of service, councillors have to contract the services of independent water truck drivers.

However, he says many are reluctant to do the job, due to outstanding payments for water trucking or previous experiences of lengthy periods going-by before they were paid.

Councillor Clemetson says the council must find to way to pay the drivers in a more timely manner.

Meanwhile, Council Chairman and Mayor of St. Ann’s Bay, Desmond Gilmore told the council that he had recently spoken with Local Government Minister Noel Arscott about the council’s submission of a resolution to the ministry one month ago, for the assistance with trucking water.

According to Mayor Gilmore, the minister said he was unaware that the resolution had been submitted and would be seeking to address the matter.