Dear Editor,
I am responding to a letter published in your newspaper under the caption ‘Reduced hours for water at Enmore’ on May 28, 2009, in which Mr Jadunauth vented his frustration at not receiving water during the scheduled pumping hours.
For the record let me state that this area is served by the Enmore Pump Station, and the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) system is set to operate between 05:00 hrs and 21:00 hrs daily. Our Divisional Manager and his team have been monitoring the situation in this area and have reported conditions consistent with Mr Jadunauth’s observations. Customers start receiving water at about 05:30 hrs and the flow stops at about 07:00 hrs and starts again after 9:00 hrs. In the evenings the water stops flowing at around17:30 hrs and there are also intermittent disruptions during the day.
GWI pump stations are equipped with sub-monitors. This device protects the system by shutting it down whenever the power supply is not within the tolerance limits of the motors. Prior to the installation of sub-monitors, pumping stations operated consistently throughout the service period, regardless of the voltage levels, causing undue stress on our motors resulting in either total destruction or substantially reduced life-spans. It must be noted that these motors are very expensive and as such must be protected in order to keep our operational costs within manageable limits, not to mention the inconvenience caused to customers whenever there are system disruptions resulting from damage to our equipment by unclean power.
GWI and GPL are constantly in contact as it relates to the challenge of improving the quality of grid power supply to our locations, and we at GWI have been assured by the GPL that they are working towards a resolution.
I assure Mr Jadunauth that our pump station operator’s geographical location has nothing to do with this unfortunate situation, as our station at Enmore is equipped with timers that remove any need for manual start-up and stopping of the pump.
We trust that this situation is resolved as early as possible and advise that all persons affected by these circumstances employ storage mechanisms that will support their demands during periods of interruption. We all must continue to practise simple, effective water conservation methods when water is available, which will allow us all to derive maximum benefits from the network.
We all must ensure we have stopcocks on our service connections and that our internal plumbing is intact, and report all leaks to the GWI Customer Services Hotline Number 227-8701.
Yours faithfully,
Rawle Aaron
Public Relations Officer
Guyana Water Inc