Residents of Matthew’s Ridge in the North West District are experiencing a water shortage, which some blame on the actions of the manganese mining operation nearby.
Some residents who spoke with Stabroek News said that no water came through the pipes since Wednesday and prior to that, for the past two weeks, the water that came was muddy. “Me ain’t like this at all,” said a woman, who identified herself as Stacy and who runs a food shop. “We cannot get water to do our work,” she said.
The residents said the manganese company damaged some pipes while constructing a road and this was the cause of the problem.
Prior to this, they said, they accessed water on a regular basis and there was no problem with it. “They did some work and it affecting this whole water system,” said Stacy. “It really rough with everybody. We never run out of water yet so much.”
This newspaper was unable to contact the mining operation for comment.
The woman said that she is spending $5,000 per day to hire a truck to bring water to her business. She lives on the flat and they normally get water on a regular basis but this is not the case now, she lamented, while calling for some action to be taken to assist the residents.
Meantime, another resident said that those living on Heaven and Hell hills were affected as well. The man, who asked that he not be identified, said that the manganese company also blocked a culvert where people normally washed their clothes.
He said that since Wednesday there was no water in the pipes and prior to that they also had issues with the water as well. He said that they were “finding big lumps of mud in the pipe.”
