New $10M well to offer Capoey residents potable water

Approximately 200 residents of Hill Top, Capoey Village in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), will soon gain access to potable water for the first time in the village’s history, as a new well is set for completion within the next two weeks.
Housaing and Water Minister Collin Croal, alongside the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) Executive Director of Hinterland, Ramchand Jailall, and a team of technical experts, over the weekend visited the well site to comprehensively assess its ongoing progress.
The $10 million well is currently being drilled by the GWI Hinterland team using the newly-acquired Pat Rig that is designated towards well-drilling operations in the hinterland regions.
A significant investment towards improving the lives of Capoey residents, the well is designed to include a range of features to ensure its functionality and sustainability, including storage tanks fed by a photovoltaic system that will reduce the carbon footprint of the facility.
Following its completion, the GWI team will seek to establish a distribution network.

The Pat Rig will also be relocated to Pomeroon, where several wells will be drilled following the Government’s promise to ensure access to clean, potable water to citizens countrywide, notably to each hinterland and riverine community by 2025.
Residents of Wakapao and Akawini (Baracaro) in the Lower Pomeroon and Karawab and Kabakaburi in the Upper Pomeroon are expected to gain first-time access to potable water with the imminent drilling of these new wells.

Onderneeming plant
In addition to the provision of clean water through the commissioning of new wells, efforts are also being made to increase treated water coverage along the coastland, with the Government constructing 13 new treatment plants and rehabilitating 13 existing treatment facilities.
As such, work on a new water treatment plant at Onderneeming is underway, with it expected to provide services from Supenaam to Taymouth Manor on the Essequibo Coast by November 2024.
Croal recently conducted a site visit at this facility as well, once again with GWI’s Jailall and a team of engineers and technical support staff.
The $1.18 million project is being carried out by Toshiba Engineering, and includes the construction of a contact tank, three filters, a storage tank of 3000 cubic metres, a chlorination system, and a primary pump station with an output of 660 cubic metres per hour.
The Onderneeming plant is intended to meet the needs of a potential future population of some 20,000 individuals, equivalent to over 5000 households.