Progress has been made on the rehabilitation of the Diamond Well Station, East Coast Demerara, the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) said yesterday and testing will begin on Thursday.
Thousands of residents at Diamond and other areas of the East Bank have been affected by the well problem. While GWI has been delivering water, many residents have had to find alternate sources since the well began experiencing problems on February 8th. A ruptured casing caused clay-like material to spurt from the well.
GWI in a release yesterday stated that Water Resources Manager, GWI, Orin Browne, said “we have seen substantial progress through several stages of the rehabilitation of the well. We have successfully located the area in which the well casing was ruptured; we were also successful at isolating that area and sealing it to prevent any more foreign particles from entering the well”.
He added that after successfully sealing the ruptured area on the well casing, the company began removing foreign matter from the well including clay and sand.
Browne added, “we have observed that the flow of clear water has improved after commencing the process of removing the sand and clay from the well. The observation of clear water is a positive indication that the well is capable of being restored to normal production levels”.
He said that the priority at this stage of rehabilitation is to remove all foreign matter in order to improve the flow of clear water.
GWI will then perform a test to establish the production capacity of the well. This is scheduled for March 3rd. This will be followed by the disinfection of the well to restore water quality. Browne said GWI is on target to complete the work within the estimated time of three weeks.
The rehabilitation is being supervised by GWI and executed by contractor Nabi Construction Inc. at a cost in excess of $12 Million.
As the rehabilitation of the well station continues, GWI said it is currently delivering water via tankers with the assistance of the Civil Defence Commission in Diamond and Kaneville. A full schedule for water delivery is available at the company’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/everydropcountsgy. GWI said it is also facilitating customers who wish to fill their storage containers at the Grove and Covent Garden water treatment facilities.
