Govt pushes for 100% potable water access this year

…geared to drill 80 more wells

The Housing and Water Ministry is set to drill 80 wells throughout Guyana this year, in an attempt to reach its goal of ensuring 100% access to potable water by 2025.

Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal made this announcement while speaking during the National Toshao’s Conference (NTC) currently being held in Georgetown. He explained that more than 100 wells have already been drilled, and an additional 80 are planned. He pointed to a list of villages already impacted.
“We’ve drilled more than a hundred wells [but], in this year, we’re drilling more than 80 wells—so you get a picture of what we’re doing now,” he stated, while being greeted with a round of applause from persons present at the conference.
He also clarified that multiple regions already have completed wells, while others have new wells being contracted or planned for 2025.
“Similarly for Region 8, Region 9… these are areas that we’ve just completed. Then you have other sets that have been awarded. And then you have places like Aishalton, etc., to be awarded. So that’s on this year’s program.”
Amidst this, Croal revealed a challenge the ministry is facing: at times, engineers and other respective workers would be drilling for water, only to find saltwater.
“I always say drilling of wells and the operation of wells is a similar scenario like mining…At times, we are drilling and we’re finding some challenges, and that is in terms of saltwater. And this is a current-day reality. So for example, in Region 1, we just drilled a well, these are just.. We go down there, sometimes you’re successful, sometimes you’re not successful, sometimes you’re successful and the productivity is not as you expect.”
He also added that the dependency on rainwater becomes a challenge for persons in riverine areas, especially when the water dries up or becomes lower. He explained that the turbidity of the water causes it to become unusable, more acidic, and in dry periods, there are also issues such as forest fires.
“This becomes a challenge for persons, the riverine areas, when the water dries up or it becomes much, quite lower, turbidity of the water, causes the water not to be used and it becomes more acidic and then on the other hand, in dry period too, there are issues about forest fires, etc.”
Minister Collin Croal emphasized that the government’s primary focus is on providing first-time access to potable water, especially in areas that have never had access before.
He acknowledged that even after the drilling and distribution network are completed, there may still be small gaps in service—such as a cluster of homes that aren’t fully connected or receiving optimal supply. These, he assured, would be addressed in a later phase.
“You have your villages for all three sub-regions and that’s quite a lot of wells. The intention, therefore, is that – and this is for everybody – we’re drilling…. when we’re finished and when we complete the distribution network, we may have gaps still. We may have maybe a small stretch of 10 houses, etc., that are not getting the level of service that is required. Our priority as of now is to ensure that we have the first-time access.”
Despite this, he mentioned that the government is focusing first on giving water to areas that never had it before, and then fixing minor gaps in service coverage afterward.
For 2025, Region 8 and Region 7 have reported 90% coverage of accessible water, while Region 9 has reported 95%.