Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 16, 2010 News
Although Guyana is known as the Land of Many Waters, the current El Nino situation seems to have the burgeoning capcacity to reverse this trend.
The Agriculture Ministry has of recent been paying close attention to this developing phenomenon which has been impacting citzens, especially farmers, countrywide.
But this present state of affairs, where access to potable water appears to be on the verge of scarcity, was anticipated a long time ago. Former World Bank President, Ismail Serageldin, had some years ago predicted that the next world war will be as a result of conflicts caused by an imminent water shortage.
And even Guyana will not be spared from a possible water crisis, GWI Scientific Sevices Manager, Savitri Jetoo, had revealed during an interview with this newspaper last year.
Even then she had speculated that although Guyana is commonly referred to as the land of many waters, there is no guarantee that its source of consumable water will not be completely depleted in the future.
As such, the manager had disclosed that the water company was gearing to ensure water conservation through various means. And among these efforts were plans to educate the local public on the ways of water conservation, a practice which is required by water users worldwide.
Education programmes have been unleashed countrywide geared at addressing the El Nino weather condition and by extension, the importance of conserving water.
The launch of an education programme at the Wisburg Primary School in Linden, last month, marked the commencement of the programme which has since been introduced to a number of schools on the East Bank of Demerara and in the District of Georgetown, according to GWI Public Relations Officer, Timothy Austin.
And the education measures are not restricted to schools, as according to Austin, organisations that are involved with health activitives have also been targeted.
“We have been visiting at least two schools a week and we have even taken some on a tour of our treatment plant at Eccles, East Bank Demerara. All of this is to emphasise the importance of water.”
The initiative, he said, was initially intended to be completed within a specific timeframe but has since been extended in order to further raise awareness as the dry weather condition persists.
In a bid to further boost its efforts, GWI has teamed up with a number of ogranisations including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Environmental Community Health Organisation (ECHO).
Even as World Water Day draws near, GWI will continute to reiterate the importance of conserving water, Austin noted. World Water Day is celebrated annually on March 22, as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
It came into being after an international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating March 22, 1993, as the first World Water Day.
This year, GWI will observe the day under the theme ‘H2O Kids in action’.
Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater.
The United Nations has proposed that nurturing the opportunities for co-operation in trans-boundary water management can help build mutual respect, understanding and trust among countries and promote peace, security and sustainable economic growth.
The United Nations website has stated that 37 cases of violence between states over water have been reported.
However, about 300 international water agreements have been signed to appease this situation.
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