Rehabilitation of the North #1 well, located in South Ruimveldt Park, has left several streets in the area flooded, with Kaikan Street and Well Road being the most severely affected.
At the well, situated at Well Road, which runs parallel to Kaikan Street, water was gushing, unhindered yesterday. As a result, the entire Well Road and the adjoining cross-street were flooded.
A check with a man living next door, however, revealed that the well had been open for two days. He could not, however, comment on the circumstances or if anything had been done by officials.
The rehabilitated well is intended to serve the communities of ‘C,’ ‘D’ and ‘E’ fields in Sophia, according to James Shako, the Director of Operations at Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI).
Shako told Stabroek News that there are two wells located in the Well Road Compound, the second of which serves the community of North Ruimveldt and the surrounding areas.
Shako stated that the first has been out of operation for the last seven or eight years, as there was “no need for it,” but added that it was recently decided it would be utilised to provide water to the residents of Sophia, who complained of poor service in recent weeks. He estimated that the test pumping would not go on beyond last evening and that the GWI will be able to run transmission lines by next week.
Shako, commenting on the poor quality of water, attributed it to the length of time it has been in the wells, while stating that it had to be drained so the aquifers could be replenished with fresh water.
GWI Public Relations Officer Leana Bradshaw had opined that the poor drainage in the South Ruimveldt Park area was the reason the water had settled on the roads.
But if you ask the residents of Kaikan Street how long the street has been flooded, they will tell you it has been so for years.
“As soon as the rain fall, the place does flood,” one resident noted, while explaining that the water has no place to go because of poor drainage. But apparently yesterday’s flooding was a lot worse than usual and when Stabroek News visited the area, that same resident divulged that although she was unsure what had caused the intensity of flooding, she had heard from someone that “they opened the well.”
