By Javon Vickerie
Residents of Hill Street, Albouystown are enduring low water pressure and at times receive no water, which the Guyana Water Incorporat-ed (GWI) says is due to a clogged main in the area.
In Albouystown, many of the residents complained to Stabroek News that they have not been receiving water through their taps. Instead, they form a line from 3 am to 5 am to access water from a small pipe in the street, from where they now all draw water.
A shop keeper in the street, who declined mentioning her name, said that she had made a report to GWI but did not get a response as to why the problem persisted. She added that there is no water pressure on the weekends, with no water flowing sometimes from Saturday straight through Sunday. She believed the situation was due to people wasting water in the area.
“No attention is paid to Albouystown. Nobody ain’t even come and seh what happen with the water. We know water wastage is prevalent but the school children them suffering because of the water shortage. Is nah easy ting we going through,” the shop keeper said.
GWI Public Relations Officer Timothy Austin told Stabroek News that the problem is due to a main located at James Street, Albouystown, which is clogged with rust.
Austin further stated that GWI workers were deployed to the area and are presently working to flush the pipe out. He pointed out that the pipe may be old and may have started to rust due to the years it was beneath the earth or there may be a small crack.
Austin, however, assured that the water should be available to the residents of Hill Street by last evening or today, depending on the work done on the main.
When this newspaper visited the area last evening, a section of James Street, Albouystown was dug up and cordoned off with yellow tape, but no worker from the water company was present at the site. Residents said that men started to work yesterday morning and dug up the area but they were unable to say if any work was done on the clogged main.
Earlier, a Hill Street resident, who provided her name as only “Beverly,” said that the situation she has been faced with for the past month has resulted in her missing days of work, just to make sure her children take a bath in the morning and to prepare meals for them to proceed with their day.
Another resident named “Paul” said that it is quite uncomfortable for him since he now has to resort to one bath per day and he also has to eat at cook shops due to the fact that there is no water to cook.
An elderly woman, who expressed her disgust at the situation, said that she was forced to move to another relative’s home because she was unable to fetch the water home from the street pipe and fill her buckets and drums.
The woman, who provided her name as “Radha,” said that because of the situation, she was unable to take her medicine and she had to be rushed to the hospital. It was a result of this situation that her relatives ended up accommodating her.
Another resident, Bibi Singh, said that the water comes slowly and sometimes contains worms and leaves, which makes it unsuitable for use during cooking.
