Guyana Water Inc (GWI) on Wednesday signed a $3.2 million agreement with the Santa Rosa Village Council to provide running water to 105 homes at Rincon in the Santa Rosa district.
The agreement was signed at GWI’s Vlissengen Road, Georgetown office.
With a population of 553 persons, Rincon, located in the North West District (NWD) community, will for the first time has its homes outfitted to benefit from running water when the one-month project is completed.
At Wednesday’s signing, Santa Rosa Toshao Sherwin Abrams said that residents
From left: Region One Chairman Brentnol Ashley, Santa Rosa Toshao Sherwin Abrams and GWI Managing Director, Dr Richard Van West-Charles
in his community were overjoyed about the initiative as he expressed hope that all 11 satellite communities in the district would benefit from potable water.
“For too long Rincon has been a community that has been suffering for water; it is one of the oldest communities in the Santa Rosa village,” the Toshao observed.
Region One (Barima-Waini) Chairman Brentnol Ashley said that this project added to the Region’s overall upward movement and called for GWI to implement similar initiatives elsewhere.
The water authority’s Managing Director, Dr Richard Van West-Charles explained that GWI was seeking to garner water from groundwater sources as opposed to surface water.
For communities yet to receive potable water, he observed that the country must do more to encourage safe environmental practices, including watershed management. “We have to ensure that the mining activity which abound these rivers is safe because many communities access water from these rivers and it cannot be put on the back-burner,” he noted.
