Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) will be working to improve the water supply for residents of River’s View, a village located on the border of Region 10.
Village Toshao, Melena Pollard wrote the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Shaik Baksh
earlier in July seeking his intervention. As a result, he led a team which visited the village last Tuesday, to meet with the villagers and their leader to discuss the situation at hand.
The Toshao explained that the village, which has about 220 households, currently only has one well in operation. This well, which is equipped with a submersible pump, is solar-powered and serves a section of the community.
In another section of the village, exists a second well which is currently out of operation. This drilled well is only equipped with a hand pump and does not have a submersible pump. The area also has pipelines which were laid by the community through a grant from the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs.
According to Baksh, this year, GWI will be working to activate the well which has the potential to serve approximately 40 households. This would include transitioning the well from being hand-pump driven to solar-powered. To this end, the community will work to do the necessary fabrication to accommodate solar panels.
Erecting a trestle equipped with water tanks as a part of the water supply system will also be explored.
Further, GWI will conduct an assessment of the existing distribution network to determine what additional works are needed. The possibility of setting up stand pipes at strategic locations will be explored in order for residents to access water until individual service connections can be installed.
River’s View is approximately 13 miles long and the population resides mainly along the river.
One of the far-flung areas, called Falmouth, is located about 3 miles away from the central
location in the village. Because of the distance, this area requires its own well and distribution network which would serve approximately 80 households.
GWI will be conducting a feasibility study for the drilling of the well in order to have it included in its 2022 programme.
The River’s View Toshao took the opportunity to express her gratitude to GWI for their timely response to her letter.
“I’m very pleased with the visit. I’m pleased with the timely response to my letter which is good because my village councilors they were asking when we’re going to get a response from you guys and this is really timely and I really appreciate it,” she stated.
Pollard added that it is her view that the community and GWI can work together to achieve
improved water access.
