— level of EDWC dam being raised
TEAMS of workers were yesterday shoring up the embankment of the Kofi Canal in the crucial East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) as more heavy rains put pressure on the huge water basin and other parts of the coast.

An official said mud bags were being used to raise the level of the dam of the canal – one of several drainage outlets for the reservoir which holds some 100 square miles of water.

The release of water from the EDWC through the Maduni Creek is also continuing, to try to keep the level in the basin at a manageable level, the official said.

The EDWC board last week ordered the release of water from the conservancy through the Maduni Creek to ease pressure on the basin’s earthen dams, and the Board will have to advise when it is safe to stop the draining.

The water released through the Maduni has hit farms and communities in Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary, and the government has promised help for those who have lost crops and livestock there and other places.

The Agriculture Ministry yesterday said the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and supporting agencies are continuing critical works to drain accumulated water from vulnerable low-lying communities affected by heavy rainfall.

An emergency mobile pump ordered from Miami arrived here yesterday to bolster the coordinated drive to drain excess water from villages and prime farmlands hit by record rainfall since last month.

Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, said the heavy-duty hydro-flow pump cost G$30M and will provide extra capacity to the programme by the NDIA to get accumulated water off land in various regions.

The minister on Friday also reported that about 15 irrigators from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) have been deployed to back up the more than 70 pumps being used in the accelerated bid to drain off the water.

The ministry said the efficient drainage of low-lying areas has been compounded by siltation, resulting in water accumulation in areas where the levels have been receding.

The NDIA, it said, is continuing the programme to clear critical silted outfalls with its 250-tonne dredging pontoon fitted with two excavators.

It said the level of the Pomeroon River in Region Two is continuously receding and the outfall at Andrews is being desilted.

The level of water in canals in Region Three is high and a mechanical drainage pump has been redeployed from Windsor Forest to Crane to provide drainage to farmers, the ministry said.

In Region Four, dredging of the Victoria outfall has been completed and the outfall at Belfield is being dredged.

In Region Five, the level of the Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary rivers remains high, and the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary/Agriculture Development Authority (MMA/ADA) and NDIA are working at strategic locations to prevent overtopping of dams and sealing breaches made by cattle and farmers, the ministry reported.

It said water accumulation was reported at Number 19 Village in Region Six and efforts to bolster the drainage programme there were continuing.

Weather officials say the heavy rainfall, higher in some parts of the country than the downpours that spawned the disastrous 2005 floods, is expected to run into March-April.

Statistics issued by the Agriculture Ministry show rainfall last month was higher by 710mm in Boerasirie than in December 2005.

In Enmore, East Coast Demerara, rainfall last month was 540mm above the figure recorded in December 2005; in Whim, East Berbice it was 490mm higher and in Leonora, West Coast Demerara, the figure was 410mm up, the ministry said.

The NDIA said some farmers and residents in affected areas are tampering with government drainage infrastructure, including cutting dams, dumping debris in the vicinity of critical drainage pumps and blocking other structures.

The authority warned that it is illegal for persons to tamper with government drainage infrastructure and those found guilty will be prosecuted according to the NDIA Act.