2.8Million gallons of water relief for Lust-en-Rust residents by Saturday
DPI, Guyana, Monday, August 17, 2020
Residents of Lust-en-Rust on the West Bank of Demerara (WCB) can expect to see, as early as Saturday, August 22, 2020, an improvement in water supply from Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI).
This development was highlighted when Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Hon. Susan Rodrigues, visited residents in the area to address their water concerns, earlier today.
The visited was prompted by residents’ calls, over the lack of access to potable water under the previous APNU+AFC Coalition Administration.
Minister Rodrigues said while a new well would be ideal, the short-term solution is for residents to share the well with residents of neighbouring schemes until a comprehensive Budget is formulated.
“We are trying our best to get as much water as possible to the area. What the area needs is a new well, and we are working on that. As you know, we do not have a Budget yet; however, we’re working on that now, and we are going to try to get a new well for the area. But right now, we will have to divert water from some of the other areas, so we can at least bring some relief to this area.”
GWI’s Executive Director of Operations, Dwayne Shako, explained that the issue of water stemmed from a non-working well and hindering residues in the well-system. GWI is currently setting measures in place so that residents can have water by the end of the week.
“One of the wells is out of operation. We’re presently trying to clean that well to increase the service level in Lust-en-Rust. We are presently supplying the area with about 2.1 million gallons a day, so we are hoping that once this well is finished cleaning, we will head up to somewhere of 2.8 million gallons per day which is around Saturday,” Shako assured.
In 2013, many persons benefited from the ‘One Stop Shop’ project, which was implemented under His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who was then Housing Minister. The project saw persons benefiting from subsidised lands, as well as the growth of the scheme, throughout 2014.
However, the past five years under the previous Coalition Administration have not been easy for residents, due to major water issues.
“We got to go by other people and full water in their yard and pay money to full the water… Sometimes, you have to go till to Eccles to wash clothes,” Amrit Jawahir, a resident of the area explained.
He further said that at times they pay as much as $8,000 to full a tank of water, which lasts just a few days. Amrit has five water tanks on his residence.
“We were told to pay, and you’ll be connected, we happily went to the office, we paid. We’re not connected. The problem is this only some persons were connected,” explained Vanessa Peters, another resident in the area.
Minister Rodrigues indicated to residents that the new PPP/C Government will work assiduously to improve their overall needs.
“From this visit, I realise that the entire scheme needs a lot more work, not just in concerning water. Going forward, we will have to coordinate better, with GWI and CH&PA, to ensure that all the works are going on simultaneously so that none of the agencies must play catch up. So, if we’re going to allocate house lots, we have to ensure that the roads are done, and that GWI is aware that they have to install the wells and to distribute water, equitably for all of the residents.”
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