Water woes hit WBD after reduced GWI production

…1 of 2 wells restored

For the past three weeks, water supply to residents in West Bank Demerara has been severely affected after two wells operated by the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) decreased its production rate.

At present, the utility company is still trying to remedy the situation and trucks are now supplying potable water, while one well still remains unfixed. The area is usually supplied by three wells in Westminster, L’Oratoire, and Onderneeming.
Director of Operations at GWI Dwayne Shako explained on Friday that the L’Oratoire and Westminster wells dropped their production rate by 39,000 and 40,000 gallons of water per hour respectively. This created a serious dent in the supply chain and many households were affected.
“For the last three weeks, we experienced a severe drop in production in one of the wells and by the time we attempted to do some work on that well, we experienced a severe drop in the next well,” he explained.
According to the Director, the water is sourced from groundwater reserves so these problems cannot be detected instantaneously.
“Because this is a groundwater source and it is coming from very deep, we would not see the effect right away. It will take many months and possible years of rain to really have any immediate effect on the aquifer. The issue really is that from time to time, because of migration of particles. We many times experience a loss in production”.
On Friday morning, the L’Oratoire well was restored but the Recht Door Zee Phase Two and Onderneeming Phase Two communities remained without potable water.
“The team tried really hard to get L’Oratoire back in operation and we completed that well this morning (Friday) and were able to restore service at that well. We now have a smaller part of Westminister, Dairy and the Recht Door Zee (Phase One) area that has now gotten some amount of relief but we still have the Phase Two of both the Recht Door Zee and the Onderneeming area,” said Shako.
Regional Manager Denise Woolford explained that they have put plans in place to have water supplied via trucks. However, it is a limited access to cater for daily activities. Until the West Minster well is fully operational, these efforts will continue.
“In an attempt to alleviate the issues being faced, we put measures in place to truck potable water in the areas. We have three different sets of tankers that will be going in and they will be working round the clock. The water that we’re providing in the area is free but we’re just asking that they conserve. This trucking is going to continue until we have West Minister back in operation,” Woolford stated.
Adding to that, Shako shared that the tankers are large, resulting in technicalities to maneuver on smaller streets.
“We were very skeptical about starting the water distribution because the tankers are large. In Onderneeming, the streets are small so we’ll try to stay on the main road and pump water through the streets if we can…We’ll try our best to ensure that everybody receives a supply of water,” he positioned.