Mini labs to be set up at GWI water treatment plants – to boost water quality

Georgetown, GINA, August 11, 2016

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) will be establishing mini laboratories at each of its water treatment plants to ensure the water distributed to its customers is of the highest quality, (World Health Organisation (WHO) standards).

The water company has already established one of the labs at the Shelter Belt water treatment plant, Vlissengen Road.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), GWI, Dr. Richard Van West-Charles said that this has resulted in a better water quality in the immediate areas served by this treatment plant.

Dr. Van West-Charles explained that the water that is distributed from the Shelter Belt’s plant, to the GWI customers in Georgetown, 60% is surface water (from the conservancy) and 40% is ground water (from the wells ground water).

He said that the complexity of treating the surface water with alum and lime and other chemicals to bring it to WHO standards requires a series of processes.

“Before we can distribute that water into the population, we need to be assured that it is of the right quality,” Dr. Van West-Charles said as he explained the company’s rationale for establishing the mini lab at Shelter Belt.

“We have instituted a lab which checks the water every hour for PH (acidity), the turbidity (cloudiness or haziness) etc…,” Dr. Charles said. “We have a 24-hour system now in place  which is looking at various parameters in terms of water quality at Shelterbelt to start with as we prepare to put in place other mini labs at the other treatment plants to ensure that the quality is up to standards,” the CEO added.

According to r Van West-Charles, the mini labs are a necessity as the company seeks to arrest any deviation from quality guidelines, and ensure more consistent water quality is being produced and distributed nationwide.

The labs will be furnished with the essential equipment to monitor the water quality round-the-clock. This quality information will then be used by management to continuously monitor and evaluate the individual treatment processes in an effort to improve the overall system, the official said.

The requisite equipment and re-agents for the establishment of the remaining labs have already been ordered and are expected to arrive in the country in a few weeks’ time.

Dr. Van West- Charles said that upon arrival, the mini labs will be set up, operators will be appropriately trained and a tight 24-hour monitoring schedule will be implemented at each treatment plant.