Some sections of Port Kaituma in Region One, including the community’s only hospital, have been without water for almost two weeks.
Residents of the community and staff of the hospital have reported frustration at the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) response to the situation, which began when the company’s representative from Mabaruma visited the community and “and say he change over from the old system to the new system.”
However, since the April 16 visit, a resident told this newspaper “plenty people not getting water, some getting but some not getting and the hospital ain’t get and it is really getting from bad to worse.”
Contacted for a comment, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of GWI Timothy Austin admitted that there is a problem with the water system in the community. After speaking to the person in charge of GWI’s operation in the region, Austin indicated that a month ago the well station at Port Kaituma had a problem, owing to the age of the equipment. He said attempts were made to fix the problem and while the well is back in operation it is still not back to full capacity. “What he [the GWI representative in the region] told me is that they are currently working on the problem around the clock to get it fixed but he could not say when it would be fixed even though it is hoped that it could be right now,” Austin said.
Austin said that he was also told that there is “a lot of wastage” of water in the area and this is compounding the problem and he appealed to residents to be careful in the usage of the water.
However, residents told Stabroek News that no one from GWI is currently working on the well station. The man in charge left for Mabaruma, where he spent the Easter weekend and has now promised to make the almost 80 mile trip back to the community following repeated calls by persons.
Of grave concern to the residents is the fact that the hospital has been without water for almost two weeks and this has also affected the nurses’ quarters. “The place is getting stink, we have to go down to the creek and full drum so that the cleaners could clean the toilets and bathrooms and so the patients can bathe. This not right and things are getting worse,” one employee of the hospital told Stabroek News yesterday.
Staff members said that they brought the matter to the attention of the regional administration.
Efforts to contact both Ministers of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy and Dr Bheri Ramsaran yesterday proved to be futile.
However, contact was made with acting Regional Executive Officer (REO) Deon Seecharran, who disputed that water has not been going to the hospital. “Water has not been coming in the hospital building but I just spoke to the person at the hospital and was told that water is coming in the yard of the hospital and that three tanks are filled with water,” Seecharran related.
The acting REO said he understands that there is a problem with the “pressure level” of the water and has since spoken to GWI’s personnel in the area who indicated that they are working on the problem and that more persons would be sent to the community today to assist. “So it is not a case of the hospital not receiving water for almost two weeks…” Seecharran said.
But employees of the hospital maintained that no water has flowed through the hospital’s taps for many days.
Told about what Seecharran related, one employee told this newspaper that he has been personally going to the creek to fill drums with a pump and take them back to the hospital to alleviate the problem. “But what happened on Monday last was myself and another guy discovered that there was a trickle of water coming through the old main in the compound and we did our own lil connection and put a hose in an effort to fill one of the tanks in the yard,” the man explained. He said that it took hours to fill the tank and the water is still coming at a trickle and employees have resorted to fetching whatever water they can manage to catch in buckets. “But there are 13 tanks that are empty and since we report this matter he [Seecharran] never even come to see what is the problem and how we making out,” the employee said.
The employees and residents called for the matter to be rectified as soon as possible, pointing out that they pay a fixed rate of a little over $600 which is mandatory whether they have water or not.
“And you know is not even filtered water that we getting is just the water they pumping up from the creek. They promise to change the system to filter a long time ago but we still waiting,” a resident commented.
