The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) says that it has remedied the voltage problem it has been encountering in Berbice, which should see the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) being able to resume a normal water supply to residents.
“It is the truth. We had an issue and it was during the peak hours.… We identified the problem and that matter has been resolved,” GPL Public Relations Officer Chevion Sears-Murray told Stabroek News yesterday.
During a recent press conference, GWI Executive Director of Operations Dwayne Shako said that GPL had informed him that it was having generation problems at the Canefield, East Canje, Berbice station. As a result, he said, it was “pushing power from Skeldon so the stations that are affected are the stations that are now on the lower end of the system which are the systems in the Canje area and the lower Corentyne. The stations on the upper Corentyne, which are closer to Skeldon, they are not affected because they are closer now to the generation site.”
GWI’s Region Six Manager Randolph Leitch gave an update on the situation on Saturday, and said that up to that point, the situation remained the same. He informed that on Friday evening all of the company’s pump stations in the region were down due to the fluctuations. Leitch said that while they would have been up and running to distribute water on Friday, it was likely that they would shut down at around 3 pm, which was a peak time. According to him, they have noticed that during off peak hours, the voltage is high while during peak hours the system shuts down.
Leitch said as a result of both low and high voltage in the region, residents between the Fyrish, Corentyne and Adventure, Corentyne areas would have to continue to endure a shortage of water. He added that both the GWI Port Mourant and New Amsterdam treatment plants were also still affected by the voltage fluctuation and residents in those area were also likely to be affected.
He pointed out that both treatment plants were being operated irregularly on generators. “Due to the power problem for the week, we burn about four motors and if the power problem continues like that we would continue to burn more motors,” he explained.
He estimated that the cost for a large motor is between $3 million and $4 million, while the small motors are estimated at around $2.5 million to $3 million.
