Pure water supply project commissioned at Sheet Anchor

The Rotary Club of New Amsterdam on Friday commissioned a pure water supply project at Sheet Anchor, Canje from which some 200 children from two schools would benefit.
Over the past year, the Club has been able to ensure that students attending eight schools benefit from treated water through the installation of water filtration systems in those schools. The Number Two Nursery and Sheet Anchor Primary which are housed in the same compound are the beneficiaries of the new project, which cost in excess of $500,000.
Club President Ramroop Rajnauth explained that both schools were now accessing clean water.
“Before the water was of a high iron content. Right now, the water is filtered and clean because we installed systems that we secured in all of the water tanks in the school compound,” he explained.
The project was a joint effort between the Club and Rotarian Jerry Outar. The pure water project commenced in March of last year at Fort Ordinance Primary, and to date, Cumberland Primary, Edinburgh Primary and Nursery, St Therese and Fort Ordinance Primary, Number Two Nursery, and Canje Secondary have all benefited.
“GWI is now coming on board to install a water treatment plant in the Canje area, but we have already installed water filtering systems in most of the schools in that area. We are looking at other schools along the East Bank of Berbice and even on the Corentyne where the residents do not receive treated water. We feel that our children who are the leaders of tomorrow need clean water. Water is life and with clean, potable water it would eliminate chances of diseases and assist in producing healthy graduates for tomorrow’s world,” Rajnauth said.
The Club has, over the years, been focusing on many areas to improve residents’ quality of life. In the area of education, the Club has built a nursery school at Manchester. In the area of health, it has worked on the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the New Amsterdam Hospital, providing the equipment for that facility among other areas.
However, the pure water supply project is now the Club’s main area of focus.
“We would have dug a well at Gangaram providing potable water for the residents of that area,” Rajnauth said. (Andrew Carmichael)