First phase of groundwater management plan completed

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) has announced the completion of the first phase of its groundwater management plan, which entailed the geophysical logging of 100 wells along the coast of Guyana.
This was revealed on Wednesday when the company stated that groundwater needs to be sustained, given the fact that it represents some 90 per cent of the supply chain on the coastland and 70 per cent countrywide. Adding to that, it is the “most reliable” source of potable water, furthering the need to sustain these sources.
Groundwater is primarily extracted in Guyana using wells but the logging mechanism was implemented to garner data on the coastland aquifers and soil composition.
For the project, GWI stated that “The logging was carried out in collaboration with Deltares, an applied research institute in water and subsurface environment and the Inter-American Development Bank under the Water Supply and Sanitation Infrastructure Improvement Programme (WSSIIP).”
Manager of Water Resources and Climate Adaptation at GWI, Orin Browne had explained at a recent workshop that the outcome of the geophysical well logging survey was analysed and interpreted with the help of previous data. This information was interpreted and is being entered into a database which will form a physical model of the aquifer system.
“The idea of building the model is to enable us to have a tool for predicting our groundwater abstraction and use because we realise that for Guyana’s future and the growth of future generations, there must be an integrated approach towards groundwater management and for the overall water resources management,” Brown had stated.
Eight engineers from the utility company were also trained in modern well-logging techniques, analysis and data visualisations, which will be a crucial factor in GWI’s in-house well-drilling capacity with the acquisition of a new drilling rig.
Guyana Times understands that when this database is completed, agencies such as the Hydrometeorological centre of the Agriculture Ministry, the Office of Climate Change, the Communities Ministry, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Banks DIH Limited will be given access to the information.
Acting Chief Hydromet Officer, Garvin Cummings was among the stakeholders to welcome the initiative since his agency is mandated to license well drillers.
“All wells being drilled across the country should be guided by Hydromet. Obviously, this kind of information has not been available before, so once available to Hydromet, it will guide us in terms of the licensing of wells and well owners and well drillers. So it’s really critical to what we do, it is a guide to what we do in terms of where wells should be drilled and hopefully this can grow into helping us determine the abstraction rates for wells,” he stated.