The PAT rig, which was procured by the Guyana Water Incorporated for the drilling of wells, arrived in Moruca on Monday to commence works.
Water wells will be drilled in the communities of Waramuri, Hymakabra, Hobodiah, Kaburi, Manawarin, Kwebanna and Santa Rosa to expand coverage.
The rig was delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions and was slated to arrive this year. A number of new wells will be drilled within the Mabaruma sub-region in 2022. After the drilling of these wells, systems including those in Wauna, White Water and Kamwatta will be interconnected.
Meanwhile, 32 youths from 16 villages across the Moruca rub-region in Region One (Barima-Waini) are currently being trained in the area of Water System Management.
The training commenced on Monday, at the Moruca Regional Democratic Council and will conclude today.
Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal urged the CSOs to take full advantage of the training as he pointed to the benefit for their respective communities. He noted that the training is aimed at building capacity and reducing downtime for water systems across the sub-region for lack of expertise.
With capacity building comes a greater sense of responsibility. He added that this training is also a timely one, as the sub-region will be benefiting from significant investments in the water sector over the next 8 months.
The drilling machine arriving in the region on Monday
Over the next two days, the CSOs will receive practical and theoretical training in the areas of Water Distribution Systems, Water Sample Collection and the Maintenance of Photovoltaic systems.
The training is a collaborative effort between the Ministries of Housing & Water and Amerindian Affairs, with GWI being the agency responsible for execution. UNICEF and the UNDP are also contributing significantly towards funding for the capacity building exercises.
The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) has crafted a new five-year strategic plan for the period of 2021-2025. Included in the plan is a target to achieve 85 per cent treated water coverage in coastal areas as compared to 53 per cent in 2019. According to the utility company, this plan also sets out to achieve 100 per cent access to potable water countrywide by 2025. Based on baseline data from 2019, 96 per cent of the population has access to potable water.
The programmatic areas of the plan are organisation and management, non-revenue water, water production, distribution and quality, finance and customer services, and sanitation. One of the key performance indicators of the strategic plan is 85 per cent metering by 2025 compared to 53 per cent in 2019.
