GWI gets $45M high-tech truck to accelerate maintenance
The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) will now be able to spend less than half of the time it currently takes to maintain its wells on the coastland, because it has procured a hydraulic maintenance truck and accompanying equipment to the tune of $45 million.
The Newly acquired hydraulic maintenance truck being inspected by GWI CEO Shaik Baksh and staff
GWI’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shaik Baksh on Tuesday last inspected the new machinery in the compound of the GWI Head Office in Georgetown. He said that the machinery, which was imported from Holland, is highly sophisticated and will further boost the company’s already robust well maintenance programme for its 145 wells on the coastland.
The CEO added that, presently, works are apace by GWI, in collaboration with the Dutch principals, to ensure that the machinery is operational within the shortest possible time.
According to him, personnel have already been trained in Holland to operate the truck and accompanying equipment.
Baksh also turned his attention to a drilling rig which he said was acquired two years ago but has never been utilised. GWI will be mobilising the rig within a month to drill a new well on the island of Wakenaam in Region 3. That well would be drilled by an in-house team.
Meanwhile, GWI’s Manager of Groundwater and Wells Services, Orin Browne, explained that the truck, in addition to the Jetting and Plunging trailers, was designed to activate and complete well rehabilitation in a fraction of the time that it normally takes for conventional water well development and maintenance.
Further, the truck comes equipped with a lifting crane and a built-in, high-powered, high-pressure water pump, which is exactly what is needed to clean well screens which, overtime, become clogged naturally. Browne noted that once the production of a well drops to 70% of its original value, it is an indication of the need for rejuvenation.
This rejuvenation is exactly what the newly acquired machinery is designed to do. It allows more water to come into the well to match its original production just after well construction. All of the machinery is mobile and can access drilling sites across the coast.
