What Does the Hydro-met Study Involve?
By working closely with the private sector and the relevant government entities including the Water Resources Authority (WRA), Meteorological Service of Jamaica (Met Service), National Water Commission (NWC), the Forestry Department and the Ministry of Agriculture, the following information will be collected:
- Existing meteorological data (precipitation and temperature); hydrological information (streamflow, evaporation, reservoirs and intake); and erosional (sedimentation) data.
- Information on extreme weather events from the Water Resources Authority (WRA).
- Deforestation data from the Forestry Department and data on soil and vegetation classifications conducted by Rural Physical Planning Division (RPPD) in the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Model will will be a science-based tool that will help to pinpoint the critical intervention sites (areas that contribute greatest to soil erosion). This will inform the government’s decisions on the best sites to target interventions to decrease soil erosion, improve the health of watershed and increase the supply of water to Jamaicans.