Before household plumbing, collecting water from rivers and springs formed part of daily life in Jamaican communities. In a Gleaner contribution, educator and researcher Leroy Fearon describes these sources as places where practical needs and community relationships met. For many rural residents, fetching water meant walking to a distant river or spring. Fearon recounts these journeys as shared experiences, accompanied by storytelling and conversation. Water collection demanded effort, but also brought people together. His account places rivers within a wider history of agriculture, trade and settlement, naming the Rio Minho, Black River and Martha Brae. It also describes water’s place in spiritual life, including baptism and purification practices in Revivalist and Rastafarian traditions. Fearon points to the Jamaican expression “Tek time cross river” as another reflection of water’s cultural presence: a practical image carrying a lesson about patience. This cultural account does not establish when individual communities acquired public water systems or document the development of wells and catchments. It does, however, offer a useful perspective on life before indoor plumbing: obtaining water was a recurring task around which relationships, customs and memories developed.
