THE long wait by some 250 residents of Moblissa on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway for access to potable water will soon be over as the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) will be rehabilitating a water supply system in the community.

Chief Executive Officer of GWI, Shaik Baksh and a technical team on Tuesday visited the sparsely populated community to assess the water situation. This follows a recent visit to the community by Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, during which residents decried their situation.

“We visited way down in Moblissa where there’s an incomplete storage facility and a well. The residents are not benefitting from this because over the past three years there were attempts to bring a supply of water to the people which did not prove successful,” Baksh explained. Having assessed the situation, GWI will be examining the production capacity of the existing well within the next two weeks. If this proves successful, a photovoltaic system will be installed.

Additionally, a trestle that was constructed in the community but never utilised, will be equipped with black water tanks as part of the rehabilitation works. This facility will serve as a central location for residents to access potable water, bringing much needed relief. One of the residents, Thelca Neblett, who lives in close proximity to the existing well, has installed her own pipes to access water from there, for which she was commended by Baksh.

Another resident, Tangamu Ngquondo, said that he is grateful for the visit by the GWI team and even assured that the community members are willing to lend their support in the form of self-help to ensure potable water access. The residents in the community primarily access water from the Moblissa Creek or via rainwater harvesting. A further intervention in the community will be the drilling of a new well this year and the installation of a distribution network to provide water access for the Health Centre, Primary School, and residents in close proximity.

Clinical attendant, Debra Cornelius said that they would be most grateful for the intervention since water is life and without it the health centre cannot function effectively. The CEO highlighted that the community is mainly agriculture-based; hence, other interventions will have to be done but not necessarily by GWI. He alluded specifically to an intervention to bring water from the creeks so that residents can have access to water for their cattle and farming.

Meanwhile, in the community of Bamia, which is also sparsely populated, a further study has to be done by the utility company to determine how the community will gain access to potable water. Baksh explained that drilling a well is a large investment and the company will therefore have to determine the feasibility, given the scattered housing and the small population in the community.