Groundwater monitoring network coming in 2018

DPI/GINA, GUYANA, Monday, June 26, 2017

The government is working towards establishing a groundwater monitoring network system. This system will ensure that the quality and quantity of groundwater is of a high standard. The aim of the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network System is to provide information needed for planning, management, and development of groundwater supplies to meet current and future water needs and ecosystem requirements.

The Ministry of Agriculture Hydrometeorological Service has the responsibility for this the office which must provide information on the quantity and quality of surface and ground water among other responsibilities.

The Department of Public Information/Government Information Agency (DPI/GINA) spoke with the acting head of the Hydrometeorological Office, Dr. Garvin Cummings, who noted that Guyana has no such monitoring system currently in place.

However, Dr. Cummings said that mapping has already been carried throughout Region Four to facilitate the system. “We have essentially completed, I would say, most of Region Four, a major part of the general coast as well as in Regions. So we are heading in that direction hopefully to establish (that) by the end of 2018. We should be well on our way in terms of establishing a ground water monitoring system.”

The government through the Hydrometeorological Office has been engaged with a Hydrogeologist who will assist in ensuring that the network is established in a timely manner. “We have had, in the last couple of months been able to attract a young Hydrogeologist in the service so she is currently working with the World Meteorological Office (WMO) to develop a monitoring system for Guyana in terms of groundwater but we are only in the initial stages of this project idea.”

Meanwhile, the agency is undertaking other research and study projects to effectively fulfill its mandate. The Hydrometeorological Office is also responsible for providing the governmental and non-governmental agencies with information on composition of the atmosphere, quantity and quality of surface and ground water and sea surface temperature, waves, swells, ocean currents and other parameters.

“What we are doing though in addition to that, is we are trying currently to establish a national inventory of ground water wells, whether those wells are shallow or deep wells. So we have now in the last five to six months been able to generate a fairly accurate map of the wells that are currently being utilised across the country,” the acting CHO added.

The Hydrometeorological Office earlier in March, officially launched a media campaign to ensure wells operating across Guyana are registered in keeping with the Department’s mandate under the Water and Sewerage Act 2002.

 

By: Delicia Haynes