THE well-drilling exercise in the South Rupununi, Upper Takutu – Upper Essequibo (Region Nine), which will see eight artesian wells being drilled in eight communities, has officially commenced and authorities are reporting the discovery of water at the first site in Karaudanawa.

Director General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig, who was in the Region earlier this week, said personnel from the Brazilian Army’s 6th Battalion Engineering Corps conducted a test at Karaudanawa on Wednesday, October 3, 2018. The test, he said, showed a presence of water and drilling has since commenced at that location.

Artesian wells will be drilled in the villages of Aishalton, Chukrikednau, Shea, Maruranawa, Awaruwaunau, Karaudanawa, Achiwib and Bashraidrun and will have a depth of approximately 80 metres or 250 feet deep. It is the intention of the Brazilian team to have the wells handed over to the Guyanese authorities on November 28, 2018.

The project follows President David Granger’s State visit to Brazil in December 2017, where the Complementary Agreement to the Basic Agreement on Technical Cooperation between the Government of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and the Federative Republic of Brazil for the Implementation of the Project Technologies to Reduce the Effects of the Drought in Region Nine was inked. (Ministry of the Presidency)