MINISTER with the portfolio, Mr. Irfaan Ali has exhorted residents of Port Kaituma to be more responsible in the way they utilise water resources. He issued the exhortation, in light of the current El Nino situation, during a recent four-day visit to Region One (Barima/Waini), where he was accompanied by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Water, Mr. Emile McGarrell;  Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) Hinterland Manager, Mr. Akram Hussain and Regional Chairman, Mr. Fermin Singh.
The ministerial team touched several communities, among them Barabina, Kamwatta, Mabaruma, White Water, Wauna, Tobago Hill, Wanaina, Hosororo, Koberimo, Arakaka, Kokerite, Kumaka, Sebai, Eclipse Falls and Matthews Ridge, on a mission to assess the situation on the ground and offer much needed relief to the villagers.
In the process, they outlined some development plans to improve water supply to hinterland communities.
At Port Kaituma waterfront, Ali said one of the major issues with the water distribution network there is contamination and pollution of the main source.
“And this is a direct result of persons who are indiscriminate and squatting along the shore line.
“This is a very serious issue, where persons are hanging their latrines in the water. Even hotels are draining their sewerage discharge into the water and people are dumping garbage into it. This is a source that leads into the water that goes into our pumping station through which we supply the community,” he explained.
Ali said it is one of the major issues that need to be addressed and another is the breakage of the pipe mains and persons not conserving and indiscriminately using the water.
He noted that it costs a lot of money to pump the water and distribute it to the people and GWI would have to look, in the medium term, at setting up a strategic treatment facility in a particular area, to provide drinking water for persons.
Ali said the squatting issue will have to be looked at very critically and have it corrected because it is a health hazard, destructive to the environment and the only water source at Port Kaituma.
He informed that there is very limited ground water capacity in Port Kaituma and added: “So, this is, indeed, the most critical and important source and people have to understand this.”
Regional Chairman Singh said, when the authority observed that people were dumping most of their garbage into the canal, several meetings were held and they were cautioned about the health hazard it poses.
However, he said they are getting very little support from residents who are squatting and the Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Mr. Robeson Benn had warned the squatters about the need for them to remove.
“We are looking at a new spot where we can relocate some of these persons by the claybrick bond and also to see if we can get a place to develop a housing scheme, so that we can have a more sanitary environment. But we still have to get permission to do so,” Singh explained.
He said at least 40 vendors have to be relocated before year end and about 50 per cent of them will be sited at the claybrick bond next door and, later on, possibly a bigger market place.
“Some are willing to move but some are not,” Singh said, noting that the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) has taken a few of them to Court.