Residents of Buxton on the East Coast of Demerara will soon benefit from improved water supply as the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) works to have the treatment plant in the community back in service by the end of 2018.
This announcement was made by the utility’s Managing Director, Dr. Richard Van West-Charles on Saturday, 21st April during an outreach in Buxton, GWI said yesterday in a release.
Additionally, eight filters have already been imported and will be installed at the treatment plant in a matter of weeks. An overhead tank has also been activated in the community and GWI will be working to fill that tank. The tank will then be used to pressurize the system.
Buxton has benefited from expanded hours of service and GWI will be working to further increase it to 24 hours by the end of 2018, the release said. The utility will also be working to clean the pipelines, which it has not managed to do consistently.
These improvement plans for Buxton were outlined even as the Managing Director contended that the community had been “neglected and even punished in years gone by”.
He said that companies such as GWI have to operate in accordance with the constitution and ensure that all citizens have access to quality services.
However, in order for this to happen, the utility and the citizens have to work together, he said.
Dr. Van West-Charles urged residents of Buxton to have their service regularised. He announced that over the next two months, they will be able to visit GWI’s office to have their service regularised and no court action will be taken against them. However, if after the two month period, residents are found with illegal connections, GWI will be moving to the courts.
GWI’s Executive Director of Operations, Dwayne Shako pointed out that the water distribution system needs to be addressed before the utility deals with water treatment.
He said that currently, 300 cubic meters of water is being produced in the community every hour. However, despite this large quantity, residents are still unable to receive 24 hours supply and receive such at the top floor of their homes.
This is due to the fact that a large quantity of the water being produced is being wasted. Over the next 6 months to a year, GWI’s team will be visiting individual homes to ensure that all leaks are dealt with, the release said. Further, the utility will be installing meters in the community in order to tighten the system.
It was stressed that GWI needs the finances to conduct these works. Approximately $6M is spent on electricity alone to power the water in the community.
The Buxton residents were urged to pay their bills on time. The community is $116M in debt with $89M of that debt belonging to unmetered customers.
