GWI moving toward 100 percent meter coverage by 2020

GINA, GUYANA, Friday, March 03, 2017

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) is working towards achieving 100 per cent   water meter coverage by the end of 2020. This will ensure that all customers pay for the water they use.

GWI’s Managing Director, Dr. Richard Van West Charles said that this would ensure that the infrastructure and operational improvement that the water company is undertaking across the country is being used by the persons authorised to do so.

“There is no secret that it takes money to run the system, so we have to ensure that we can meter between now and the next three years, the entire country,” Dr. Van West Charles told the Government Information Agency (GINA), today.

Currently about 40 per cent of GWI customers are metered. Under a larger water improvement project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the water company is currently undertaking metering in Uitvlugt in Region Three, Diamond in Region Four and Sheet Anchor in Region Six.

GWI, with its own funding, has purchased over 16,000 meters and has prioritised for 2017, metering on the East Coast, Georgetown and in Region Six, Dr. Van West Charles explained.

The meters being used are of better quality than those that were used in the past. Dr. Van West Charles explained that those old meters developed issues due to the then high iron content of the water, which also resulted in discoloration to white clothes, tiles, sinks and toilet bowls. “We have introduced a new product which is making a difference (with the water quality) and that is a thing of the past, but the customer must realise that there is a cost attached to that, and so we are looking at how we would factor that cost into tariff,” the Managing Director explained.

GWI’s efforts in metering may also result in the water company using less meter readers. Dr. Charles explained that the water company will soon be piloting a project which examines the use of ultrasonic flow meters across the country. The non-contact ultrasonic flow meter uses sound waves to determine the velocity of a fluid flowing in a pipe. “It would not require meter readers, one person can drive through the street and an electronic system would pick up the meter readings and forward them to us,” Dr. Charles said.

He explained that the ultrasonic flow meter will be tested across the country within the next four weeks.

 

By: Macalia Santos