The water supply to thousands of residents of the Diamond, Kaneville and Grove housing schemes has been affected by what the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) has diagnosed as a ruptured well casing at the Diamond Well Station.
Some residents said yesterday that while they appreciate the efforts being made by GWI personnel to address the issue, the reality was depressing as they had been without water for several days.
A press statement from GWI said yesterday that while the well station is down, water will be delivered daily via tankers to Diamond Housing Scheme from 9am to 8pm from 21st Avenue to 1st Avenue, Diamond, and to Kaneville from 5pm to 8pm, at ‘Middle Road,’ Kaneville.
However, while the water tankers have already started distribution, several Diamond residents have been forced to seek water from elsewhere.
“I don’t know about any tanker ’cause I ain’t see anything. I had to go till to my relatives in Craig to get water,” a resident, who did not want to be named, told Stabroek News yesterday. He added that while the current situation is depressing, he noticed the GWI workers at the well station working tirelessly. “Well, what am I going to say about it? Something wrong with the well and it ain’t working and nobody ain’t getting water but I know them man trying and they’ve been trying for days,” he added.
Other residents related the same appreciation for the efforts that the GWI has been making to address the situation, however, one of them blamed the inferiority of the well.
“It was only time until something like this happened since it was inferior. It was not built to the standard that it should have and it is what you call a shallow grave. It was only time until this happened,” he said.
Other residents express-ed concern as to how much water the tankers can hold that will satisfy the needs of the Diamond community.
“It’s a really terrible situation and people got to learn to start pinching their water,” Sean Smith said, stating that he was not able to see any of the tankers because he is not home during the times when it is scheduled to be there. “I go to work and I come home late most nights so what happens to me and people like me?” he questioned.
GWI said its Chief Executive Richard Van West-Charles met local contractors and experts yesterday on rectifying the technical difficulties that are being experienced at the Diamond Well Station.
At the meeting there were representatives from S Jagmohan Hardware Supplies and Contruction Services, Nabi Construc-tion Inc, Courtney Benn Contracting Services Ltd, RN Williams Construction Inc and Webb Construction along with experts from the GWI, including the Execu-tive Director (Infrastruc-ture, Planning and Imple-mentation) Ramchand Jailal, Water Resources Manager, Orin Browne and Technical Services Manager Dwayne Shako.
The GWI statement added that the purpose of the meeting was to determine the next step towards the solution to the current water plight. “The chief executive indicated that it was pivotal to utilise the best minds in the field of well drilling and maintenance in order to successfully restore the well station in the swiftest manner possible,” it said.
It went on to say that Van West-Charles indicated that the GWI is in the process of repairing the ruptured well casing and the work consists of removing the accumulation of clay from the well and placing an internal sleeve in an attempt to seal the rupture. After that is done, the well will be cleaned and disinfected.
“The chief executive charged the experts present with formulating a long-term solution for the current challenges at the well station and urged that every possible solution be explored. Additional meetings are scheduled throughout the week as GWI attempts to resolve the challenges at the well station,” the statement added.
