Drought leaves stretches of Rio Minho nearly empty as Clarendon residents scramble for water

Concerns are growing over Jamaica’s longest river, the Rio Minho, where stretches have fallen to dangerously low levels amid a harsh dry spell. Reporter Sandy Williams found cracked beds, exposed stones and long reaches where water has all but vanished under intense heat.

Residents say the drop is worrying. Many still depend on the river for basic needs when household taps run dry.

A short distance away in Moores, the picture is different. Water continues to move through that section, and people arrive each day not for recreation but to survive. Bottles and pans line the banks as households collect what they can, some calling it their only dependable supply.

Locals use the river for washing, cooking and drinking. Others say they have no pipe service and buy water daily, even while living beside the channel.

For at least one resident, the bank has also become work. She rinses and washes clothes in the river and runs a small laundry trade born of necessity, one of a few people turning scarce water into income.

She said there is still no running water in the pipes. Asked how people manage while living so near the river, she replied they remain there yet still cannot get a household supply.

As climate stress and human activity continue to reshape Jamaica’s waterways, safeguarding rivers that still flow may matter as much as trying to revive those already lost.