THE community of Kaikan in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), which borders neighbouring Venezuela, will soon move from having 20 per cent to 100 per cent access to potable water, with the drilling of a new well and upgrading of the existing water supply system there.

This joint effort among Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the community is in keeping with a commitment made by President, Dr Irfaan Ali during his visit to the community in December 2020.

According to a release, the Ministers of Housing and Water also continue to be instrumental in ensuring that unserved communities across the country are provided with access to potable water.

GWI’s Chief Executive Officer, Shaik Baksh; Director of Hinterland Services, Ramchand Jailal and GDF Reserve Captain and GWI’s Customer Services Director, Marlon Daniels, recently visited the community and met with residents to discuss the project to provide water supply improvement.

The existing system, which serves 20 per cent of the community, consists of the pumping of water from a nearby river, which is then stored using storage tanks on a trestle. The residents then access this water from stand pipes at strategic locations.

A team from GWI visited the community to conduct resistivity logging in order to determine a viable location to drill a new well later this year.

Other works which will be conducted include pipe laying, upgrading of the storage facility, installation of a photovoltaic system and the installation of individual service connections.

This project is one of many which is geared towards achieving 100 per cent access to potable water countrywide by 2025, as outlined in GWI’s five-year Strategic plan. Baseline data from 2019 shows that 96 per cent of the population has access to potable water.

Other areas in the pipeline to benefit include Edinburgh in Region Three and Kato and Taruka in Region Eight.