HOUSING and Water Minister Irfaan Ali has issued a stern warning to delinquent water users, who are in the habit of wasting water and not paying, that they  will now be taken before the courts.

In the past, water users who failed to comply were disconnected from the service, or either issued warning letters; however, this saw minimal changes to the culture, as the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), continues to record millions in losses.
“For years we have been voicing our concerns with water users who refuse to pay water rates….this scourge has to stop and we are now taking a sterner approach,” Minister Ali stated.
The minister, speaking on the advancement of the water sector during an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA), on Thursday, spoke of the continued improvement in the level of services provided.
Mention was also made of the recently designed Strategic Plan for the water sector for which public consultations were held with the private sector, on the way forward.
“In our vision, we want to ensure that the company breaks even within the next three to four years and so the addition of the Strategic Plan will see GWI achieve a break-even position by 2016… In this strategy, we are dealing extensively with the issue of conservation. We waste a lot of water in this country. We will focus on improving efficiency and reliability, especially in our response time to leaks and breakages,” he said.
Mechanisms have been put in place in the past including an anti-fraud policy, and modernisation of its accounting, procurement and inventory systems.
Over the last five years, $15B has been injected into the water sector to ensure its sustenance, as approximately 65 percent of its operations cost goes towards energy consumption.
Thus far, seven new water treatment plants and 18 wells were constructed countrywide, with the allocation of $7B.