MANAGING Director of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Dr. Van West-Charles, said that the $51 million replacement of the Church Street water transmission line was expected to commence in the first quarter of 2020, even as he commended the swift repairs done by staff, on Saturday, to rectify the latest rupture to the pipe which had disrupted water supply to several areas in central Georgetown.

GWI, on Saturday morning, issued a notice informing customers of central Georgetown, that their water supply would be disrupted from 13:00hrs to facilitate the repairs. Communities affected included Kitty, Campbellville, Subryanville, Bel Air, Queenstown, Alberttown, Bourda, Lacytown, Cummingsburg, Wortmanville, Lodge, Thomas Lands, Charlestown, and Albouystown.

After assiduous work by the company, the water supply was restored by late Saturday night.
“The team came out and started to do the work. Working in a lot of water sometimes, they were there all the time working. They didn’t stop. We were there, the Director of Operations, and myself and we stayed supporting the staff and ensuring it was done, because we knew the importance of this main in terms of its supply to the city, to hospitals and other critical institutions. I will certainly honour these men who have been consistent in working and addressing these issues effectively,” Van West-Charles noted.

Saturday’s breakage to the transmission line was the latest, in a number of breakages, that had occurred to the Church Street and other transmission lines, throughout the year. The breakages are as a result of the aged state of the transmission lines which constitute the Georgetown network, which was installed over 100 years ago.

“It’s an old pipe, so most likely some vehicle ran over the area and the pressure caused the pipe to rupture. The pipelines in central Georgetown are very old, so that is a challenge. So we are focusing on replacing these lines commencing in 2020,” Van West-Charles said.
In March of this year, repairs had to be effected on the Church Street transmission line at the corner of Avenue of the Republic. Heavy-duty container trucks contributed to the damage; in April the line reportedly suffered four ruptures at varying parts within a two-week period; in August a main pipeline along Cemetery Road also suffered a rupture.
In each case the water supply had to be turned off to effect the repairs, leaving residents in several communities without water for hours.

The city’s network spans from Turkeyen to Agricola and was interlinked with a downside to the interconnectivity being that breakages cause the need to shut down the water service to several areas, to effect repairs, a Department of Public Information article noted, earlier this year.

Realising the severity of the issue, Van West-Charles, earlier this year applied for a financial supplementary provision to replace lines in Church Street and Vlissengen Road.
“We’re moving at replacing the line on Church Street. It was budgeted for in the supplemental of 2019, the award is more or less completed, and we should have the purchase of the materials and, early in the first quarter of 2020, we deal with the placement of the pipes,” the Managing Director relayed.

Even with those lines repaired, however, much work will still remain towards replacing the entire Georgetown network.
“We have to do much more but we’ll start by looking at the replacement of the pipe in Church Street. This is just part of the network. We have to be looking at the replacement of other parts of the network in areas such as Kitty, Kingston, and so forth,” Van West-Charles noted.

The new pipes will come with an increased diameter allowing for a greater pressure.
“Currently, we cannot increase the pressure beyond a certain amount or else we have a lot of breakages, so the new pipes will go to about 24 inches I think,” he said.