Dear Editor,
It has been brought to the nation’s attention by Guyana Water Inc. that it has detected that most of the water it distributes to its customers is not only wasted, but that it is also at a loss to ascertain the reason therefor.
It has also been brought to my attention that this utility which is solely responsible for providing and distributing potable water to our nation does not repair customer’s bib-cocks then they become defective and will not close off as they should after use to stop distributed water from flowing and as a result the water will continue to wastefully flow.
It has also been brought to my attention that when these defective bib-cocks are brought to the attention of supervisors and managers of these facilities by consumers they are usually told to buy a new one and GWI will remove the defective one and fit on the new one.
Now Mr. Editor I am aware that the life of these defective bib-cocks can be prolonged for many months by substituting rubber washers that can be quickly made from discarded motor vehicle tyres and tubes at relatively minimal cost and the fitting of a substitute washer can be done in just about ten to fifteen minutes.
I am also aware that the City Council which was hitherto one of the few providers and distributors of potable water after a series of related studies on being notified of such defects, rehabilitated bib-cocks at absolutely no additional cost to the consumer, and as a result distributed water wastage was relatively negligible.
In the circumstances therefore, I hereby take this opportunity to recommend that GWI implements the same strategy to see whether the unacceptably high percentage of water wastage will yield similar results.
As I see it apart from significantly curbing the unacceptably high level of wastage of the utility’s distributed water, the implementation of the strategy I recommend will also have the desirable effect of saving our country millions of dollars annually in foreign exchange, especially with the current cost of a
