– efforts to improve capacity ongoing
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said the sluices at Kofi and Cunha and the spill weir at Land of Canaan are all working properly although they are not functioning at their maximum capacity and efforts are already being made to improve their performance.
In an invited comment to this newspaper, Persaud said that the design capacity of these structures, which help to drain the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC), is not achieved because of the existing cross conservancy difference in the hydraulic head. Persaud said improvement in the cross conservancy flows to these sluices are being achieved by opening additional waterways such as Lama, which result in an increase in the “upstream hydraulic head at the conservancy sluices at Kofi, Cunha and Land of Canaan.” According to the minister, “this allows for greater flows through the discharge structures at their design capacity.” Persaud said too that the Ministry of Agriculture will undertake structural works to increase the discharge capacity at Cunha.
Last year Persaud had told this newspaper that improving the Cunha canal had been identified as a priority and that it would take US$1.5 million to complete. He had disclosed that funding was being sought from the World Bank which was working with the Department for International Development (DFID) on finding resources for the project. He had also announced that the proposed work would help to significantly drain the EDWC into the Demerara River. At that time, Persaud had said that Cunha, which drains through lands leased to Barama Company Ltd, was operating at 40 per cent of its capacity.
At a recent sitting of the National Assembly, Persaud informed the house that of the Maduni, Lama, Kofi and Cunha sluices and the Land of Canaan spill weir, only the ones at Maduni and Lama are currently functioning at their full capacity. According to Persaud, while the Cunha sluice has an operating capacity of 55.0 m3/sec it is currently operating at 35.0-40.0 m3/sec (1235-1415 cfs). He also said that the spill weir at Land of Canaan is currently functioning at 40.0-45 m3/ sec (1415-1590 cfs) when it has a capacity of 56.6m3/sec or 2000 cfs at a water level of 57.5 GD. The minister said too that that the Kofi sluice was functioning at a rate of 55.0-60.0 m3/ sec (1940-2120cfs) but did not state its capacity operation level. Further, Persaud stated that the Maduni Sluice and the Lama Canal were functioning at their maximum capacities of 55.0m3/ sec. Regarding the EDWC, the minister told the House that at the level of 58.80 GD, there is a threat that the dam of the conservancy would overtop. Persaud disclosed too that every year since January 2005, the water level exceeded the 58.50 GD at Flagstaff, which is regarded as the “minimum safe level”.