BOTTLENECKS in the potable water supply chain at Mahdia and surrounding areas in Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni) are to be eliminated on completion of a $21M upgrade of the gravity flow system by Guyana Water Inc. (GWI). An official of the utility said the related project will begin by mid-April and finish within two months.
The work to be done includes desilting of Salbora Creek, the reservoir into which  it flows and repairing and restructuring the  distribution network to guarantee improved and 24 hours a day delivery to the estimated 1,200 families at Campbelltown, too.

The Regional Executive Officer (REO), Mr. Ishwar Dass, explained that Salbora Creek is situated on Eagle Mountain above the Mahdia Plateau, about three kilometres from the village and its high elevation is what  has made the gravity flow of water from the source possible.
He said the Salbora Water Project was undertaken, at a cost of $50M, a few years ago but the distribution network was damaged by gold miners in their reckless hunt for the precious metal.

Subsequently, 13 miners, some of them prominent businessmen and women in Mahdia, were found culpable for that damage and were banned from mining there for a period of five years.

The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), which is the regulatory body for mining, had also handed over an undisclosed sum of money to GWI to pay for repairs to the ruptured system.

“What will happen now is that those works will be rectified and upgraded. GWI will straighten the  distribution lines because, in the initial repairs, they were twisted to suit the holes that were created by the miners. This meant that every time the water comes to the point where there is a twist, the pressure breaks the pipe and the lines get clogged,” Dass said.
GWI will also desilt both the stream and the reservoir to ensure unimpeded flow following the upgrading.