CLOSE to one hundred residents of Lust-en-Rust, West Bank of Demerara, are now receiving potable water to their homes, thanks to an intervention by Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues.
Minister Rodrigues visited the community recently, after being made aware of some issues facing residents as it relates to their water supply.

Based on advice from the Director of Operations, Guyana Water Inc., Dwayne Shako and Well Engineer, Kerene Gordon, the minister committed to having the issues remedied by last weekend.
During Tuesday’s visit, residents reported that they are now enjoying a better quality of service and their day-to-day life is made much easier.

Meanwhile, Minister Rodrigues took the opportunity to thank the residents for their patience, as she commended the GWI team for working towards the deadline they committed to.
“We did fulfil our commitment and we did so within the deadline we had given ourselves, we want to thank the residents for their cooperation,” Minister Rodrigues noted.

In addition to the households which have been connected to the distribution network, an additional number of residents have been invited to apply for connection in the coming days.

Speaking of a more long-term solution to increase water pressure, the minister noted that an independent well is needed in that community. To this end, the ministry, through GWI, will be working on accessing funds for that project.
Meanwhile, residents expressed their satisfaction over the level of service they are now receiving.

One resident, Carl Lewis, who has been living in the community for the past five years, said this is the first time he is accessing water from GWI to his home. Over the past five years, Lewis said it has been burdensome on his family as they have been pumping water from a nearby canal for household use, and harvesting rainwater for drinking purposes. “This will ease us greatly because we wouldn’t have to be spending money on gas for the pump,” Lewis said.

Another resident, Vanessa Peters, said she moved into the community six months ago, and she is now enjoying potable water to her home. According to Peters, in the past, they were forced to visit friends and family miles away to get water.
“Prior to last week, we depended mainly on rainfall, or we had to resort to going to standpipe far away just to get water for day-to-day use,” Peters lamented.

According to Executive Director of Operations, Dwayne Shako, the services delivered to Lust-en-Rust residents are as a result of rehabilitation works which were carried out on the Westminster Number 2 well station.
He said the water company was forced to re-adjust its distribution network and, in some instances, remove services from unoccupied land as this contributed significantly to leakages and ultimately losses to the company.
Shako said for the remainder of the year, his team will continue to work in the area with the aim of improving service delivery. The aim is to ensure residents get increase water pressure to the first-floor level by the end of 2020.