…several projects planned for coast, hinterland

ON the back of an approval for it to raise water tariffs, the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) says that it is in a state of readiness to meet the deadlines for improvement set by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and announced a range of projects it intends to roll out to improve service delivery across the country.

The increases were approved by the PUC in an order released on June 7, 2018, but in return the GWI must meet a series of targets which include reducing unmetered customers; reducing non-water revenue; increase the collection of rates on annual billings and more.

In an interview on Wednesday, the GWI Managing-Director (MD), Dr. Richard Van-West Charles said that he remains positive that GWI will meet the deadlines set. “It is imperative for us and we’re happy we’re aligned with the PUC on this matter to ensure that we can certainly reduce the non-revenue water…we’re confident we’ll meet the deadline,” he said.
When questioned about changes made to their application by the PUC, he said: “We’re happy with it. I think the PUC has been fair and I wish to publicly express our thanks to them…we were satisfied in the requirements put to us, in the responses from the public, so we have no complaints at this junction.”

The managing-director noted that the GWI still has much work to complete, even as he highlighted some of the company’s ongoing and upcoming plans. “The reality is that we want people to have an adequate service. I think it is safe to say we’ve gone through a period, slightly unplanned, in which no adequate analysis was conducted between demand and supply.

So, we still have pockets, for example, of communities that do not have adequate service…,” he said.

Treatment plants
Future plans include three treatment plants to be completed by October 2019 at Uitvlugt, Sheet Anchor and Buxton, while the Department of Public Infrastructure is looking into works at a treatment plant in Friendship, East Bank Demerara.

Wells are currently being drilled in Port Mourant, Region Six, while others are set to be drilled this year in Pouderoyen and Westminster on the West Bank of Demerara; Madewini on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway and at Bartica and Ituni.

In addition, the GWI has requested supplementary support for wells at Fyrish in New Amsterdam; Lusignan on the East Coast and at Farm, even as the company hopes to build capacity to construct more wells in Regions One, Seven, and Eight. Also, the company predicts that residents of Linden will soon receive better quality water through the refurbishment of water treatment plants at West Watooka and Mackenzie.
In outlying areas, there are plans to treat the water at Mabaruma coming from the Hosororo Falls, as well as water at the Port Kaituma River through water filters. “We’ve had some discussions with a company in Trinidad through a local representative, we’re going to be doing a pilot project of putting a water purifier on a truck to take water from the river, purify it and distribute,” he said.

In addition, GWI’s C2 filters have also already been installed at hospitals in Mabaruma, Baracara, Kako and Kamarang, with one to be established at Smith’s Creek. “We have a number of communities in the hinterland that require attention. We’ve submitted about 30 communities; we haven’t gotten the funds as yet, but we’re looking at different initiatives to raise the funds to address those needs,” he said.
Maintenance

Also, the company will soon acquire a crane to assist with timely maintenance, as well as a special type of vehicle to ensure well maintenance occurs much faster and more efficiently.
Meanwhile, GWI said it is working on addressing waste-water systems in Kwakwani and Three Friends and is now engaging with customers at Sheet Anchor to address leaks. Dr.Van-West Charles also spoke about recent works to tighten the network at Sheet Anchor by reducing the operation of one pump station, which will see the company saving some $US 60,000 per annum in electricity costs. “We’re also, internally, seeking to improve our managerial processes. We want to ensure that we improve the timeliness of delivery of our bills, the accuracy of the reading of our meters to our customers. We want to get to the stage where we have less complaints and a better quality of service,” the GWI MD said.
Buxton debts

In the community of Buxton, where residents owed the GWI some $116M in tariffs, the GWI MD said that over 50 percent of persons from the community have come forward to have their services regularised. “We’ve had some reasonable responses. Those who have got to go to the court have been handed over to Mr. Nigel Niles, our corporate secretary and his team, while others have been disconnected.” However, he added that the community has not been singled out, stating: “This not for Buxton alone, this is across the country. If you haven’t paid us for the last 100 days, we’re removing the service.”

The GWI thanks its customers for the recent increase in general understanding for the need of timely payments and assures that there will be high levels of transparency when utilising funds from the increase in rates. “I would want to say to customers that they will know where this money is going to be applied to. Because we’ve zoned the country and we will say to you, ‘In Region Six, Zone 1, the fixed charge will be applied to a, b, c and d’. And every customer will then know,” he explained.

To reduce the burden on consumers, the PUC has approved that these increases will be implemented in two phases beginning on1st October, 2018 and again on 1st October 2019.