GWI moves against water thieves

Oct 24, 2008 News

“is nah we bruk the main, is horse walk and bruk it” – resident

Officials from Guyana Water Incorporated will visit the Grass Field Enmore Squatter community with a view to regularizing water distribution in the area.
This follows extensive damage to water mains by some residents, causing significant water wastage.
Public Relations Officer of GWI, Rawle Aaron, told a team of media representatives who visited the area that the move to meet with the residents was initiated by concerned citizens of the community who had reported the damage to the water mains.

GWI Public Relations Officer, Rawle Aaron

According to Aaron, the GWI had installed several standpipes to facilitate the provision of potable water to the squatter community of Grass Field, Enmore, East Coast Demerara.
He explained that because the area has not yet been regularized, there can be no orderly provision of water to individual homes.
However, he pointed out that over time, several residents have resorted to illegally installing additional pipelines by way of an attachment to the standpipes to carry water to their homes.
In one case, a long pipe which was attached to the broken main led to the house of a policeman.
This, he said, severely affected the supply of water to the legitimate customers in the nearby community of Foulis.
GWI then moved into the area on Tuesday and removed all the illegal pipe connections.
But the move backfired and the residents resorted to breaking the mains to get water.
Aaron said that this led to the water company taking the harsh decision to disconnect the water supply to the entire area.
“As you know, this water costs the Guyana Water Incorporated lots of money to produce and as such it is necessary for us to close these water mains off. We are going to be coming into the community on Saturday where we are going to encourage residents to get together in community groups and make arrangements so that they can have their water supply regularized in this area. We cannot allow residents to keep tampering and breaking our mains, something we have been talking about for several years,” the GWI Public Relations Officer explained.
He said that at the moment, GWI is depending on the police to take action whenever the breakage of water mains is reported to them.
Aaron explained that presently the GWI is moving to have tabled in the National Assembly legislation which will enable the utility company to take persons to court for any violation regarding the supply of water.
“Guyana Water Incorporated at the moment has legislation being tabled right now, like the other utility companies, so that we as a utility company can take action directly. In the interim we are going to ask the police to take the necessary action against citizens who have not been obeying the law,” Aaron told the media.
He said that GWI has its officers in the field to spot any instance of tampering. The water company is also relying on concerned residents to report such incidents, he added.
Aaron pointed to a case in Berbice where a customer had removed the GWI service connection to fill a pond for agricultural purposes.
He said that while the company has no problem with persons using water to cultivate their kitchen gardens, GWI does not produce water for agricultural purposes.
“We’re working in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to see how best we could help them to promote the ‘Grow More Food’ drive. While we are doing so we want to ensure that residents use water from Guyana Water Incorporated for domestic purposes,” Aaron pointed out.
Meanwhile, GWI restored water to the Grass Field, Enmore community yesterday, claiming that it was doing so in the public interest.
But it is not too clear when potable water will be supplied to the homes in Grass Field, Enmore but officials hope that funds will be available to facilitate this soon.
“We believe that persons who are legitimate customers of Guyana Water Incorporated should continue to receive a supply of water; at the same time we are appealing to residents in this squatting area to use the standpipes that have been provided for their purpose until their service has been regularized,” Aaron said.
Liloutie, a resident of the Grass Field Squatting Area, said that she is willing to pay for a regular supply of water to her home.
The woman said that she was the person who went to the GWI Head Office and reported directly to the CEO Karan Singh about the breaking of the mains.
She said that when the culprits were confronted by GWI officials, they claimed, “Is not we bruk the main, is horse walk pon it and bruk it.”
“I willing, willing fuh pay fuh me water. If ah every year or half of de year, whatsoever, I gone pay fuh me water,” the woman said.
This main stretches across a trench.
Another resident, Champa said she has a handicapped child and she desperately needs a water supply directly to her home.
“Me does get public assistance for me child and me glad fuh get de water because I can’t lef he fuh go fetch water and fall down,” Champa told the media.