AGRICULTURE Minister Robert Persaud, reacting to recent negative comments about the management of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) and Hope Canal, refuted allegations of poor management of the conservancy and said the Hope project will continue.
He declared that the critics are not in touch with reality, because the investments being made in drainage and irrigation (D&I) infrastructure are the type needed.
“The major bugbear to agriculture is having proper drainage and irrigation,” Mr. Persaud said.
He added that, with climate change, matters are made worse, as high levels in the conservancy, caused by excessive rainfall and high tides, translate into the troubles farmers are currently experiencing.
However, because of climate change, there is the other extreme as was seen last year around this time, when the opposite to now was done then, with water being pumped out of Mahaica Creek into the conservancy via the Lama and Maduni sluices, also on East Coast Demerara, Persaud explained.
He maintained that climate change is a reality that will not get any better and Guyana, as a vulnerable country, must prepare.
The EDWC is critical in this preparation and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Mr. Lionel Wordsworth concurred that there is no poor management of the conservancy.
He said those making such statements are not tolerant of the dynamics under which the conservancy operates.
Wordsworth said capacity has improved from 2005, when the conservancy held less water and there was excess of it at different release points which had to be opened for longer periods.
He said, now, the huge reservoir holds more than 100 billion gallons of water, with a capacity of 59 Georgetown Datum (GD) and, on average its levels range between 50GD and 57GD.
“Previously, the level was just over 58.5GD and it overtopped,” Wordsworth said.
He said improvements in D&I will continue.
Rice Producers Association (RPA) General Secretary, Mr. Dharamkumar Seeraj said his grouping will support Government’s efforts to enhance the integrity of the conservancies, especially the EDWC, which is critical to the most populated region.
“Once we see the activation of the Hope relief channel, we will not be faced with the difficulties we have now. All farmers who are residents will tell you that, with all the rain that fell, they were able to cope. But the opening of the Lama and Maduni sluices, to release the excess water in the conservancy, is when they got worried,” he said.
Seeraj acknowledged that the Hope Canal is a worthwhile undertaking and the new northern relief channel at Hope/Dochfour is expected to boost the drainage capacity of the EDWC and relieve the Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary communities during periods of prolonged and heavy rainfall, as is the current experience.