THE Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) will be purchasing a drilling rig to reduce the cost of well-boring, Managing-Director, Dr. Richard Van-West Charles has said.

He made the announcement during an inspection tour of a well under construction at Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara, on Wednesday.

When the well is completed by year-end, it will serve thousands of Sparendaam residents.

The managing-director said water production in the existing well has been dropping and with the new well, it will double. The cost for the well is $30M.

“This would be a good Christmas gift for the people of Sparendaam and Plaisance,” he said.

This is the second of three wells to be completed. Some $40M was spent on the first well that was drilled at Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD) in order to supplement water supply, owing to the growing population in that community.

The other well will be drilled in Sophia and when completed, will provide improved water quality and services to the residents in that and surrounding areas.

March last a contract to the tune of 552,855 euros was signed between GWI and the Dutch firms of De Ruiter Doringen and Rook South-American B.V for the construction of the wells.

Signing the contract were Dr. Van-West Charles, Managing-Director of De Ruiter Doringen Frans Heinis and Managing Director of Rook South-American B.V Martin Bloemscheer and other GWI representatives.

The wells are constructed employing drilling technologies new to Guyana that would significantly increase their yield and efficiency.

This is necessary to meet the demand for the service from communities such as Diamond and Sophia that have large populations, Dr. Van West-Charles explained

The agreement provides for De Ruiter Doringen to drill the wells and for Rook South-American B.V to develop them. The contract also covers onsite training for GWI engineers and local contractors to enhance local technical capacity.

About a dozen local contractors and GWI engineers are set to benefit under the agreement.

Since last year, the water company would have begun the process of familiarising its staff with the new approaches to well-drilling.

Dr. Van-West Charles recalled that in 2016, a number of GWI employees attended a special well-drilling workshop in the U.S. that focused on several areas, including the drilling of new wells and the geology of well development.

Another group of GWI staff will undertake training this year.

In the construction of the wells, De Ruiter Doringen will be advancing the tried and tested reverse circulation drilling technology.

Managing-Director Heinis explained that the company has been using the technology for over 50 years in the Netherlands and over 10 years in Suriname.

He said since the soil conditions in these countries are similar to those of Guyana, the drilling technique should be easily applied here.

The reverse circulation well-drilling system is used for large diameter wells on loose alluvial soils. It consists of returning the drilled material and flushing medium to the surface inside the drill pipes.