THE Environmental Community Health Organisation (ECHO) is calling on the competent authority to pay serious attention to the way potentially toxic chemicals and gases are stored in local communities, as these gases pose various risks to public health and the natural environment.Last week a chlorine leak at the Guyana Water Inc.’s Water Treatment Facility at Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, affected residents in that area.

Many days after, there has been no official report on what caused the leak. No one for sure knows what is the real effect of the leak on the health of the residents in areas contiguous to that facility.

We believe that GWI has an obligation to answer the following:-

1. How is the gas used, stored and managed by that agency?
2. What are the current monitoring and maintenance plan for those gases and allied chemicals, in facilities in that and other areas?
3. What residents should do in the event of such a leak?
4. What are the general and specific policies in place to deal with such incidents and accidents?
5. What is the role of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in assisting to prevent such accidents?

In this modern time, ECHO is of the view that using, storing, and managing such gases and chemicals should be in strict compliance to a written hazard communication programme.
Information should be provided on the action to be taken in the event of an accidental release of the gas. This should include: –

– environmental precaution: keeping away from drain, need to alert the emergency services and possibly need to alert the immediate communities in the event of risk.

Therefore, we are asking GWI to provide information on what is really happening at these facilities across Guyana. It is not enough for that agency to say that the leak has been contained. More needs to be said about the management of such gases and chemicals, in neighbourhoods that are very vulnerable to the effects of such leaks and spills.

ROYSTON KING
Executive Director
Environment Community Health Organisation