-Minister Ali says no need for alarm
THE ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday morning received reports of dead fish floating in the Lamaha Canal, but Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali is saying that the matter is not as serious as it appears.
EPA Executive Director, Dr. Inderjeet Ramdass told the Chronicle that his officers were in the field conducting their testing to ascertain what led to the fishes dying. At the time that the newspaper contacted Dr. Ramdass, the officers had not returned from their investigative fieldwork.
Dr. Ramdass said that there could be many factors responsible for the fish turning up dead, but that the investigation must be completed before that determination could be made.
According to an EPA staffer, the Agency received the report in the morning and immediately sent persons to investigate.
Minister Ali, who had held an emergency briefing with sector stakeholders earlier in the day, told the Chronicle that the issue was nothing to be alarmed about.
He said that the testing was ongoing to determine the cause of the death of the fishes and that “everything was ok.”
The Guyana Water Inc. sources water for consumption by residents of the City and its environs from the Lamaha Canal.