The “wood screw pump” is recommended for flooding in Guyana

Dear Editor,
As a concerned citizen, I feel obligated to address the situation each rainy season, when mass flooding takes precedence, disrupting the daily lifestyles of many citizens.
Overwhelming recognition by the relevant authorities’ allegedly spending billions of dollars in recent years, following the 2005 “great flood”, seems evidentially futile. Frankly speaking, the flooding situation affects citizens greatly, and needs much urgent funding and expertise towards the delivering of efficient and effective supervision and preservation, as flooding is flooding, whether it is three feet or three inches.
The fact remains that the capital city and coastlands are under sea level at high tide, comparable to many other territorial states yes, but the responsible authority needs to essentially formulate innovative drainage programmes during the dry season, and not foolishly during the wet season. A proper board should be established by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Works Services Group (WSG), Civil Defence Commission (CDC) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) mechanical engineers to formulate a comprehensive and feasible flood protection programme for the capital city and the coastlands.
Draining these marshlands by a gravity surface drainage system coupled with structured kokers and drainage pumps is historical from Guyana’s colonial past. As development improved post-independence, urbanization fostered infrastructural development and, over the years, saw the lack of values, discipline and negligence by a number of citizens, who proficiently began the dumping of garbage into trenches and canals. This practice, over the years, became a norm, and some citizens transformed the capital city’s name, Georgetown, to “Garbage Town”. It is factual that many housing districts were not provided with waste management/removal services, and in many cases residents had, and still have, less of a choice than to dump garbage any and everywhere. This emanated culture of garbage dumping on parapets, especially the market squares and into waterways, remains a serious pollution issue that needs urgent attention.
It seems that the culture of garbage disposal became a customary practice in this society, and is seemingly being overlooked by the authorities. Additionally, sporadic businesses and, in some cases, home builders often fill trenches without incorporating proper culverts underneath their bridges and parking spaces, or not at all, which consequently contributes significantly to the evident flooding trend. This was evident some months ago (2008) on the East Coast (Demerara) whereby the relevant authorities coercively ruptured and excavated many bridges and garbage filled trenches which private citizens negligently filled to their benefit. Meanwhile, this illegal practice seems to have been overlooked by the authorities.
The filling of main canals and trenches is still done, even by relevant authorities, mostly implemented for either walkways or roads, with improper innovative measures. Such practices disrupt the proper functioning of the gravity drainage system and also dismantle the established channel network. The refuse dumping practices, however, remain a necessary issue that needs competent attention. Truthfully, the real issue is not essentially the hazardous pollutants, such as plastics and Styrofoam materials that are found floating excessively in the largest bin retreating to the ocean, but the over-silted and over-vegetated condition of the holding canals themselves, as well as the dismantled drainage network from secondary to primary canals which have lost their ‘youthful’ stage (fast flowing).
On the other hand, the ‘mature’ stage (slow movement) of these canals, caused by erosion and siltation over the years, facilitates the infested vegetative growth, which results in many primary waterways remaining ‘mature’ (slow-flowing). This prevalent reason today causes receding rainwater simply to buildup, resulting in flooding, as the primary and secondary waterways not only run slower, but the holding capacity is unaccommodating. Therefore, the management of these waterways, by digging/desiltation, will provide the capacity to accommodate extra water and ease overflow or easy flooding. Fundamentally, all this is sensibly encouraged to be effective in the dry season, instead of just before, or when the rains have begun, which has become a norm after apparently G$ billions have been spent to control flooding by this regime, in the name of emergency works.
If these canals and channels are excavated properly during the dry season, they will be able to accommodate many more thousands of gallons of  water, and will enable faster gravity run off, as they would be in a ‘youthful stage’ (fast flowing).  Thus, to my observation, it is only when the wet season approaches that emergency excavation works are done, costing twice the amount of funds that can be sensibly saved. Further, to my knowledge, this seems inefficient, since the soil is oversaturated, the silt comes out as sludge, often falling right back into the canals/channels; as a result this ineffectual practice by the relevant authorities does not serve financial and engineering cleverness. The wise idea employed by spraying herbicides to lessen canal weeds just prior to rainfall is ineffective also in reducing flooding, because the canals are already in a state of ‘maturity’ (slow flowing); which of course is initially responsible for such vegetation.
It can be agreed that global warming can be said to have some effect on the climate patterns, resulting in excessive rainfall, and overwhelming evidence was the “2005 great flood”. Consequently, mobile pumps were administered to combat the flood waters, as the obsolete drainage engine pumps were ineffective and insufficient in lifting such a large volume of rain water off the land. In fact, many territorial states are below sea level, but do not flood easily although their cities are much larger. I strongly believe that the relevant authorities and the regime of the day that advocates spending G$ billions on (D&I) works are incompetent in their endeavours to alleviate the flooding norm of Guyana.
Moreover, this flooding situation indeed is preposterous, and many people are frustrated come every wet season when their homes, yards and businesses are submerged with insanitary rainwater. I strongly believe that tax payers’ hard cash is being misused in grappling with this pressing flooding situation by inefficient and ineffective initiatives. The G$ billions spent to remedy the flooding issue remains a mystery, as evidence remains clear to the general citizenry that the regime has failed miserably in its pledge to combat the flooding misery.
In closing, I suggest that a proper board of mechanical engineers be deployed to innovatively monitor and maintain primary and secondary canals, to effectively deal with this troubling cyclical flood issue and to competently work together toward desiltation of main as well as minor canals, so the channels become ‘youthful’ again (fast flowing). Additionally, the obsolete drainage pumps, numbering over 60 or so on the East Coast (Demerara), are insufficient in lifting the magnitude of rain water quickly enough, especially when hundreds of thousands of gallons of water are released into the East Demerara Water Conservancy, and as of late into the MMA creeks, towards the outflow channels into the ocean. Citizens are disgusted with this situation once or twice a year, as their lifestyles are disrupted, especially the farmers, farmlands, crops and livestock produce.
Further, innovative pumps, such as turbo piston pumps, are available instead of hydraulic pumps. However, centrifugal mechanical pumps prove better than such hydraulic pumps. Therefore I am quite certain the regime can politic successfully in acquiring grants/funding to truly alleviate flooding. The recommended centrifugal mechanical pump known as the “wood screw pump” (WSP) has been devised in countries such as the Netherlands, India, China and Egypt. This (WSP) can be the best innovation that this regime can invest in to alleviate our flooding issues with its great efficiency and effectiveness.
Hence, it was this (WSP) that proved its brilliance for almost a century for New Orleans, Louisiana (USA); and proudly, these identical pumps drained the city of New Orleans during the massive flood caused by the hurricane Katrina in 2005. The (WSP) are sized 12 and 14 feet and are the surest investment this regime can arrange to actually revolutionize this dreaded flood norm.  If the relevant authorities do not come to grips with the present ailing pumps, the capital city of Georgetown and coastlands will always experience overflow of rainwater from the surface waterways, such as the conservancy and other main drainage canals.
If innovative pumps are not invested upon and installed in strategic areas, such as the MMA basin area and strategic communities on the coastlands, this overwhelming flooding issue will continue to threaten the lives, health and wellbeing of patriotic Guyanese citizens, as well as decrease residential growth and financial development. Time has come for these obsolete drainage pumps to go, as they prove insufficient to actively drain the city and coastlands in a timely manner; further anticipation remains that the authorities awake and fund competent machines to adequately relieve flooding in Guyana, once and for all.
These screw pumps are the best bet, as their design to remove/lift water to the proper depositories is remarkable, as compared to the present obsolete pumps. Finally, chances are the regime will take into perspective the proper feasible initiative in making a meaningful investment, to acquire further funding/grants to obtain a few screw pumps, instead of additionally acquiring current hydraulic pumps which are pathetic at lifting flood waters effectively into the sea. I anticipate this exercise becomes a reality in the near future, with local government elections and decentralization of power endorsed to foster development and minimize corruption.
Alaric Weithers