Linden gets water safety plan

Apr 23, 2009 News

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The National Programme of Action (NPA) and Water Safety Plan (WSP) were yesterday officially handed over to Government, through the Ministry of Health. The ceremony took place at the Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP) building in Linden.

The pilot initiative is a joint development of a programme of action for the minimization of land-based sources of pollution and a water safety plan for the mining town of Linden.
This initiative is intended to demonstrate the implementation of a holistic approach aimed at addressing the key issues of watershed management and its linkage to drinking water quality.
The watershed management element of this pilot initiative was formulated within the Global Programme of Action (GPA) for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Sources (LBS) of Pollution.
During the handing over ceremony yesterday, Region Ten Chairman, Mortimer Mingo, said that the residents of Linden are no strangers to the provision of water of good quality, as he urged for the combined expertise of all partners involved in the initiative to ensure the achievement of acceptable standards in the provision and management of quality water.

The partners involved in this pilot initiative include the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), United States Government, CARICOM, and the Civil Defence Commission.
United States Ambassador to Guyana, John Jones, underscored the importance of the project in such a noble community, as he explained that in other parts of the world water is a scarce commodity and people have been trying to preserve water while others are looking at higher and better ways to invest water.
According to the ambassador, Guyana is blessed by nature to have an abundance of water, as clean drinking water is essential for the development of the human race.
“A nation that does not provide a system that manages drinking water for its citizens runs the risk of losing credibility in the world community.

“When faced with things like global warming, droughts and increases in cases of water borne diseases…it is imperative that a nation has a plan to meet the water needs of its people,” Ambassador Jones said.
It was noted that this pilot initiative is a global agreement committed to by governments worldwide to improve the health of coastal and marine waters.
Watersheds that drain the areas within and around Linden constituted the study area for development of a local-level National Plan of Action (NPA) to minimize pollution into the ambient environment, with emphasis on protection of source waters used for drinking water supply.

Country Representative of PAHO, Dr. Kathleen Israel, noted that whilst substantial progress has been made within the last decade in the water sector in Guyana, much of the water used does not have the minimum amount of free chlorine at the point of use as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and this can result in high risk of microbiological contamination.
According to Dr. Israel, a survey in Region Ten showed that only a maximum of 14 per cent of the households achieved the required level of free chlorine at the point of use.
According to the Ministry of Health data for 2005, water related diseases comprised the five leading causes of morbidity in children under five years old with the prevalence of diarrhea ranging from 7.2 per cent in urban areas to 14.5 per cent in the interior.

The MICS 2006 report suggests that Guyana continues to struggle with problems of contaminated drinking water and inadequate sanitary conditions.
Dr. Israel said that effective water management must ensure that the best use is made of available supplies, including protection from pollution, and should seek to limit conflicts over access to fresh water.
This, she explained, calls for the establishment of clearly defined policies and strategies as well as for the development of enforceable mechanisms and tools for water pollution control.

“Water pollution control is clearly one of the most critical of those challenges. Without urgent and properly directed action, developing countries face growing problems of disease, environmental degradation and economic stagnation, as precious water resources become more and more contaminated,” Dr. Israel said.
Meanwhile, the watershed management for the Upper Demerara was developed as an integrating management and policy framework with comprehensive recommendations to protect and ensure the safer use of the water.

In this regard, Dr. Israel noted that it is not an end in itself but a useful strategic tool that can assist the government, industry, tourism, agricultural or other relevant bodies and local communities in the progressive prioritization of their sustainable development needs and goals related for the sustainable and safe use of waters, and in the mobilization of both political and financial support.
Meanwhile, Presidential Advisor on sustainable development, Navin Chandarpal, noted that the implementation of the initiative must be effective, as he noted that one of the major issues faced in terms of water quality is sources of pollution.

“There are activities by the people who carry them out that result in sources of water being highly polluted.
“And once those sources of pollution are allowed to continue or if the water that they obtain from those sources is not properly treated, then the population that is supported with that water would not be treated fairly,” Chandarpal said.
It is expected that this joint demonstration NPA/WSP project will build local, national, and regional capacity and will catalyze the development of similar projects elsewhere in Guyana and throughout the Latin American and Caribbean region.

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