Dakoura Creek Watershed Management Plan being finalised

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) is in the final stages of preparing the Dakoura Creek Watershed Management Plan in order to sustain the Dakoura Creek as the primary source for the western sub-section of the Linden Water System.
The clear water creek, which has an estimated annual flow of 52 million cubic meters, currently serves as a water source for some 12,000 residents via the western sub-system of the Linden Water System and a plan is currently being finalised for the management of its watershed. On Wednesday, GWI’s Environmental Management Consultant, Samuel Wright, said it is of paramount importance that all stakeholders work together to achieve the water resource goals. Stakeholders include the Central Housing and Planning Authority, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, GWI, the Regional Democratic Council of Region 10, Bosia Minerals Guyana Limited, and the Linden Mayor and Town Council.

Therefore, among the goals of the watershed plan are maintaining and improving water quality and supply to sustainably meet the needs of natural and human communities, protecting public Health and the drinking water supply and supporting appropriate economic and sustainable development to reduce impacts of squatting.
The Creek Watershed Management Plan articulates the proposed protection strategy for the Dakoura Creek Watershed, its designated uses and associated goals and objectives, and the actions to be implemented to support the sustainability of the watershed. Detailed in the plan are plans and procedures for the further characterisation and subsequent analysis of data, and also the roles and responsibilities of the relevant stakeholders, and the resources needed for its implementation. The Dakoura Creek has been found to have high levels of bacteria and its threats include mining, unauthorised logging, subsistence farming, uncontrolled dumping of garbage and urbanisation.
The expected outcomes of the management of the watershed are improved understanding of the watershed, clear goals and objectives/how to manage the watershed, community engagement and support, decisions based on best information and good integration with other plans.
Among the primary recommended actions of the implementation plan is the execution of a water quality-monitoring plan, which Wright said is expected to be initiated in the third quarter of 2018. This will cost approximately GY$3 million per year. The funding sources are GWI, the Natural Resources Ministry and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.