Residents of Santa Rosa as well as those in the Moruca Sub-District, Region One will soon benefit from an improved water supply and delivery system following an intervention by Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal.
According to a missive released by the Ministry, the Minister, along with a team from Guyana Water Inc., recently made a brief visit to the Moruca Sub-District with the aim of assessing the situation on the ground and finding a solution to address the water woes facing residents.
After careful inspection of the pump station at Santa Rosa, it was found that the current system can facilitate some amount of expansion which would mean better distribution. As such, in the coming weeks, expansion work to the distribution and transmission main will commence. According to Minister Croal, currently, residents of Santa Rosa only benefit from four hours per day supply of water.
“As it is right now, residents are getting water in the morning from 6 am to 8 am and in the afternoon from 2 to 4 pm, with the extension to the system, we will increase the hours from 5 am to 9 am and in the afternoon from 2 to 6 pm” the Minister explained. Already, the materials needed for the expansion have arrived in the region and works will commence in the coming weeks.
This expansion is expected to serve Santa Rosa Island, Sheba, and One Mile. Meanwhile, the GWI team continues to conduct its needs assessment in other villages in the sub-district in preparation for long term solutions.
Also at Mora, within the coming months works will commence for a distribution network in that village.
Further, over the weekend, the Minister visited the village of Kamwatta to assess the situation there, having received some complaints. Given the unique needs of that village, Minister Croal explained that an independent well is needed to meet the demands of villagers and other surrounding satellite villages.
However, the provision will be made for that in the 2021 national budget. This recent trip is a follow up to a visit made by the Minister and team earlier in August. The first visit was made to the Mabaruma Sub-district where the minister sought to address similar issues facing residents. Coming out of that visit, a team from GWI commenced a Needs Assessment exercise in the Region and that data will serve as a guide for future plans for the water sector in Region One.
