The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) is teaming up with the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) to host a numbers of tours and workshops aimed at raising awareness about water and energy conservation starting today, in observance of International World Water Day.
International World Water Day will be officially observed tomorrow under the theme ‘Water and Energy,’ a joint press release from the utilities said. Observances will start today with an educational field trip, workshop and tour for over 50 students selected from primary schools in the city and from East Berbice.
GWI CEO Shaik Baksh said his company was pleased to partner with GPL and tailored a programme aimed at enhancing the knowledge of Primary School students on water and energy conservation. The CEO also noted that “GWI’s National School Education Programme has yielded positive results as school aged children continue to be pivotal in propagating the message of conservation” which the workshop aims to augment.
“The theme of water and energy conservation is vital to the operation of both utilities so it is indeed quite significant that the two entities have collaborated on this education initiative to change attitudes towards water and energy conservation,” he said.
GWI currently spends more than $6M per month to operate a single water treatment facility, the press release said. Meanwhile, GPL in response to the need for customers to manage energy consumption has launched pre-paid meters and a series of Energy Conservation and Demand Side Management initiatives. It is in this vein that the two entities have partnered to raise awareness about water and energy management.
According to the press statement, the students will be given a full tour of GPL’s Canje, East Berbice Power Plant as well as a workshop and tour of GWI’s New Amsterdam Water Treatment Facility.
“The workshop will include presentations on the critical link between the provision of water service and energy consumption as well as water conservation and energy management methods that students can adopt,” the utilities said. Attendees will also be given information kits to engage other students from their respective schools. In addition, essays written by participants about their experiences during the workshop will be posted on the company websites and social media sites of both utilities.
World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The UN General Assembly designated March 22 of each year as the world day for water by adopting a resolution and it has from 1993, in accordance with the UNCED chapter 18 (Fresh Water Resources) of Agenda 21.
Energy and water demand is expected to rise as the population increases. By 2030 renewable energy demand will have risen by 60% (WWAP, 2009) and EIA (2010), estimates that global energy consumption will increase by around 50% from 2007 to 2035.
