A councillor of the Linden municipality staged a one-day vigil at the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) yesterday in protest at the poor water quality throughout the town.

Carrying a placard which read, “GWI Lindeners Deserve pure water on a regular Basis, Enough typhoid, Dengue and Malaria,” Councillor Harrilall Jainarine staged his protest outside the Linden Business Centre where GWI occupies an office. “The water situation in Linden is in a very sad state and no one seems to be doing anything. So many of our kids are coming down with water borne diseases especially in Speightland almost every home has one person coming down with some sickness caused by the water we getting through our pipe,” he said.

In addition to the poor water sanitation, Jainarine said Speightland residents experience frequent water shortages without notice, a situation the GWI Linden office said they were unaware of. Several attempts to secure a comment from GWI’s Public Relations Department proved futile.

Several passers-by joined Jainarine’s protest. Riverside Drive resident Jonathan Adams said he lent support to the cause as he too has questioned the safety of his water supply. “Many days the water we get coming from the pipes in our homes is definitely raw river water, sometimes is brown and other times it is heavily murky,” he said.

Jainarine is hopeful that Linden residents would join his protest as many of the area’s children are suffering.