THE Government Analyst Food & Drug Department held a sensitisation seminar Thursday to educate manufacturers as well as consumers about the requirements and regulations for the safe production of water and ice. The quality of drinking water is a powerful environmental determinant of health and participants at the seminar were told that assurance of drinking water safety is a foundation for the prevention and control of waterborne diseases and this can be achieved with the proper standards and regulations.

Ms Archer of the Consumer Affairs Department in the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce highlighted the fact that water is everyone’s interest and therefore the quality should be taken seriously.
She also informed that the Bureau will be available to assist manufacturers in any way they can.
Meanwhile, the Guyana National Bureau of Standards has been in discussion with the Food and Drug Department and a Memorandum of Understanding that was signed in January 2012 encompasses the GYS 12 Standard, Guyana Code of Practice and the Food and Drug Regulations where the operators would be monitored by the said parties for their compliance to the established standards.
Currently, the standards highlighted relate only to packaged water but according to Ms Bostwick, there is a proposal being developed for the filling stations.
The seminar also noted that preserving the quality of fresh water is important for drinking water supply, food production and recreational water use and quality can be compromised by the presence of infectious agents, toxic chemicals, and radiological hazards. With this in mind and the rising need to have proper standardization for the quality of water, the Food and Drug Department has set out a list of new requirements in order to obtain licensing.

Licensing
One of the major requirements is the qualifications (including experience and training) of managers and supervisors and personnel employed.
The new deadline for registration has been extended to June 30, 2014 so as to support persons being trained to meet this new requirement. This and other requirements can be obtained from the Food and Drug Department office located in the last building in the University of Guyana compound.

Training
Empretec will be partnering with the Food and Drug Department to facilitate A Water Operators Training Programme so as to enable the water producers to satisfy the requirement set out by the department. The eligibility for this programme is within everyone’s grasp with a minimum of four CXC subjects being required for entry, including mathematics, English language and at least one of the sciences.
The duration of the programme will be four days from 9am to 4pm and the first batch will be trained in April 2014. The cost of the training will be $40,000 per person.
The quality of water, whether used for drinking, domestic purposes, food production or recreational purposes has an important impact on health. Initiatives to manage the safety of water production do not only support public health, but often promote economic development, seminar participants were told.
Written By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally