Dear Editor,
In Saturday’s SN (May 29th) a photograph showed dead fish floating in the Lamaha Canal which supplies raw water from the Conservancy to the Shelter Belt treatment facilities which process it to provide potable water for much of Georgetown and its suburbs. As stated this phenomenon was first observed a few days ago with the situation seemingly getting worse by the day.
Fish in a waterway is analogous to a canary in a mine – to alert users to take emergency measures when dangerous elements are present in the environment and for immediate preventative action to be taken for the safety of all. Any fish killed in a stream which supplies drinking water is of significance since its demise could have resulted from pollution or indiscriminate waste disposal into it.
Unfortunately what is happening appears to be an insignificant incident to Guyana Water Inc/Ministry of Health (GWI/MoH) and therefore there is no need for them to alert users that their water supply may be contaminated although fishes in the raw water are dying for some unknown reason and the raw water with dead fish floating in it is still being extracted from the canal for the waterworks.
Water for drinking and food preparation must be free from dangerous chemicals, minerals and organic substances producing adverse physiological effects. Therefore users should be notified immediately what the current investigations (if any) have revealed as to what is killing the fishes and whether the water is safe for domestic use as the treatment facilities at Shelter Belt are incapable of extracting toxic and many dangerous pollutants from the water it supplies to its users. Continued use of contaminated water could endanger the health of us all.
The silence must be broken and Water Users should be informed without further delay why the fishes are dying in the Lamaha Canal and what has and is being done to remedy the situation. Users should be assured that they could continue to use the water without any ill effect or in the silence of it all face the consequences.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan
