The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) is currently replacing a pipeline at Cemetery Road, George-town, after a 14-inch transmission line there ruptured recently, causing flooding of the cemetery and the disruption of the water supply to some city residents.
Customers in surrounding areas are currently experiencing reduced water pressure as a result. “Due to this rupture being in very close proximity to the cemetery compared to previous ones and the obvious risk associated with working in the conditions of a flooded cemetery, GWI is working to abandon that section of the pipeline, and install a new line along the carriageway of Cemetery Road,” GWI said in a statement on its Facebook page.
It noted that customers of central Georgetown will experience a disruption to their water supply during the period of the interconnection of the new pipeline. This exercise was set to begin last night up to 5am today then continue from 11 pm to midnight today.
GWI said that despite there being no 2020 budget passed by the Government of Guyana, it has taken it upon itself to fix the damaged pipeline. Executive Director of Operations Dwayne Shako said that “rather than waiting on a Government of Guyana budget, we [GWI] have now moved to have them [the pipelines] replaced because it is becoming a critical water supply [issue]. So within the next two days [today and yesterday] we will be replacing the lines and we expecting by Sunday evening to midnight we should be able to finish the project and restore the supply to normalcy by Monday.” According to Shako, the rupture has caused flooding in the cemetery.
Over the last two weeks, there have been several disruptions to the water supply in a number of communities and GWI undertook emergency works to fix the issues.
