THE Regional Administration of Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) has issued a warning to rice farmers not to pump water from irrigation canals to their fields.

Vice-Chairman Vishnu Samaroo said some farmers are disrupting the flow into low lands situated in the first depth areas by pumping into their fields with mechanical pumps.
He said the Police have been informed about the situation and will be making spot checks.
Samaroo said any farmer caught pumping water from irrigation canals will be dealt with seriously according to the laws of the country.
Farmers in their haste to get water into their fields have set up several pumps in the backdam that have disrupted the flow to the low lands, he said.
Samaroo said the weather across the Region is very hot and water levels in canals, conservancies and lakes have dropped very low.
According to the Vice-Chairman, farmers have already ploughed and chipped their fields and are waiting on irrigation supply from the Regional Drainage and Irrigation Department.
He said the Regional Administration started to release water in the low land areas since October 27 but farmers in the high lands are disrupting the flow by pumping.
The Vice-Chairman said fields in the downstream parts, including Cozier and Bounty Hall to Somerset and Berks cannot be irrigated at this time.
Samaroo said the pumps at Dawsa will only be put into operation to sustain the growth of the crop. Water is usually pumped from the Pomeroon River to the Tapakuma Lake and then distributed to the main canal which supplies to the irrigation canals.
Reports said water is already saltish in the Pomeroon as far as Jacklow and some 35,000 acres are ploughed and chipped for the 2013 Spring Crop.