Dear Editor,
GWI wishes to express gratitude to your publication and Ms Anthea Spencer for the comments published in the Wednesday August 31 edition of your newspaper (‘Water meters should be installed in every home to help conserve water‘).
We wish to thank Ms Spencer for acknowledging the improvement in service at Patentia, West Bank Demerara. This resulted from the hard work of our divisional staff at Pouderoyen, Divisional Operations Manager Marlon Daniels and Customer Service Manager Jeanette Thomas. We also wish to assure Ms Spencer that GWI is aware of the significant wastage occurring in several communities as highlighted in our recent press briefing regarding wastage by customers at Craig, East Bank Demerara.
Indeed water service meters are excellent water conservation devices and we wish to advise that GWI intends to meter 100% of the nation. Currently, metering projects are being executed country-wide including the communities of Linden, Tuschen, West Bank Demerara, etc. Our metering programme will extend to other communities on the West Bank of Demerara including Patentia. We urge customers to be patient since the process of metering is expensive and requires significant investment.
GWI is grateful that Ms Spencer acknowledged that while Guyana is referred to as the land of many waters, not all sources are safe for consumption. Wastage by customers is particularly intolerable when one considers the enormous expense incurred by GWI for electrical energy, chemicals for purification and the large staff body required to distribute water. GWI practises sectional delivery to reduce energy costs in several communities; however it is the responsibility of customers to recognize the damage that wastage can cause to our sources of safe water supply.
In addition to our weekly broadcast televised on Wednesday via NCN 11 at 20:05hrs with a rebroadcast the following Tuesday at 10:00hrs, GWI has several ongoing programmes to advocate water conservation. These include our National School Education Programme, ‘H2O Kidz ‘N’ Action,‘ our website and social media platforms, and our ‘Community Connect‘ outreach programme. Recently, Patentia residents met with our Customer Service Manager, Ms Jeanette Thomas who conducted an outreach programme to educate customers about service upgrades and bill payment. Pivotal to her meeting was the subject of water conservation. Such initiatives continue throughout our various divisions and we urge customers to support us as we seek to eliminate the wastage of water.
GWI is grateful for customers such as Ms Anthea Spencer and we urge others to emulate her resolve to avoid water wastage. We also acknowledge Ms Spencer’s recommendations as we remain focused on our programme to meter all of Guyana.
Customers seeking information on metering and water conservation can visit our website at www.gwiguyana.com or on Facebook, www.facebook.com/everydropcounts or call 227-8701 (e-mail address customercallcentre@gwi.gy).
Guyana Water Incorporated wishes to thank your publication for highlighting the commendation and suggestions sent by our customers. We remain firm in our commitment to improve our partnership with our customers.
Yours faithfully,
Timothy Austin
Public Relations Officer
