— says GWI boss in ‘No one left behind’ campaign

GWI Managing Director, Dr. Richard Van West-Charles has called on all citizens at the community, municipal, regional and national levels to examine why their fellow people are being left behind, and to show how access to water and sanitation can be drivers of change.

He made the appeal at an event to celebrate the 26th anniversary of World Water Day hosted by the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) Linden branch on Friday, under the theme “No one left behind”.

“For this to be possible, access to knowledge coupled with understanding is vital. This means that a marriage of citizens rights and the conversant responsibility provides a healthy pathway in the 2030 agenda. This call, therefore, means that the citizens’ understanding of the individual rights and the implications for their responsibility can move us in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana closer to the attainment of the goals of 2030,” Van West-Charles said.

He added that GWI chose Linden as the host town of this year’s anniversary ceremony because most of the town’s residents access potable water from fresh-water sources, which means that protecting watersheds is critical.
Mayor of Linden, Waneka Arrindell noted that with Linden moving towards the adoption of the sustainable development goal, “how we utilise water and how we protect our watersheds is very important.”

She highlighted that the community consists of a large number of water sources, and hopes it becomes one of the communities that will continue to provide water for the rest of Guyana.

The mayor is also calling on GWI to edify the public on the importance of water and how it affects everyone when water is wasted through radio and television programmes.
She also pencouraged residents to, “be cognisant of what we are doing, and understand the importance of water to us, but moreso how the rest of the country will lose if we do not take a stand on how we work to preserve our water sources.”

The Linden Mayor and Town Council, in partnership with the Ministry of Communities, will be embarking on a stringent programme of waste removal in an attempt to protect the watersheds of Linden.

The theme for World Water Day 2019, “Leaving no one behind”, is a revision of the significant promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The human right to water allows everyone, without discrimination, access to adequate, non-toxic, satisfactory, physically accessible and inexpensive water for personal and domestic use.

Van West-Charles highlighted that GWI has embarked on an initiative with the Ministries of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Communities, Finance, Education and Public Health to correct the imbalance occurring in Region Nine villages.