The Guyana Water Inc (GWI) says it has been trying to unblock a six-inch sewer along Second Street, Albertown which is packed with solids including medical waste. In a statement, GWI was responding to a letter in yesterday’s Stabroek News by Shamshun Mohamed complaining that it had been more than six weeks since the utility had been attempting to repair an overflowing sewage chamber. GWI said that the complaint is being actively looked at and first gained its attention when the report was made on November 17, 2022. A maintenance team was immediately dispatched. The utility said that after investigating it discovered a severely blocked 6-inch diameter gravity sewer which was clogged with a significant amount of solids, particularly medical waste.
In the interest of quickly resolving the issue, the statement said that the team has been working several days, utilising multiple resources including the sewer combination tanker, to get the job done. The efforts to date have “brought about brief relief”, GWI said.
As recent as Friday, “the team spent several hours on Second Street removing pounds of solid waste and fibrous material (gauze, cloth, etc.) from the blocked sewer”, GWI said.
Understanding the customer’s frustration, the statement said that the team, including the Sanitation Manager, visited the customer in question on several occasions to provide updates and temporary relief.
GWI’s Sanitation Maintenance team will continue to utilise various techniques and resources to completely clear this blocked line within the shortest possible time, the statement added. The utility called again on hospitals and other medical institutions to ensure they are in conformity with hospital waste disposal standards as such waste poses serious health risks to not only customers but also the Sewerage Maintenance workers.
