Dear Editor,
Over three weeks ago, the Guyana Water Inc in one of their countrywide disconnection campaigns, visited the Uitvlugt Sideline Dam and disconnected several houses. Some house occupants were not at home and their water was disconnected because no one was around to show the bills. Some places could not be found and they disconnected houses where the occupants were not around. The people who were disconnecting were contract workers and they really need some training to deal with customers, but that is not the real issue of my letter.
Editor, a little while back, water meters along with security boxes with locks were installed at many houses countrywide, and I was under the impression that the water could be disconnected from there until I saw the disconnection crew digging for the main where the bore is to cut off the water. Whilst digging for the main, these workers would sometimes accidentally hit the main with their shovels and damage it. Now these people don’t repair the damage that they cause because there’s another crew that does that. At one of the houses they disconnected at the Sideline, they damaged the main and three weeks or more after, the water that could have served a house is flowing freely on the roadway with lots of pressure looking as if the main has a huge hole. Oh, what a professional service we are getting from GWI!
Walking along the Sideline Dam, you can observe water flowing on the road from a few houses that were disconnected, and before that no water was being wasted. The residents all agree that the rude contract workers are the ones that damaged the main because the more holes one individual digs, the more money he gets, so they have a race. What is laughable is that after they dig the hole, you offer them one thousand dollars and they fill it back up, while the record states that it is disconnected because the GWI official is not monitoring them. To date there are no questions from the opposition as to who benefits from the installation of the water meters, when most consumers are getting estimated bills or average bills.
Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Mr Timothy Austin, PRO of Guyana Water Inc for any comment he might wish to make.
