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PC students experience another water shortage
Some students had to resort to this yesterday.
Students at the President’s College, Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara, were once again up in arms over the lack of potable water at the institution.
Yesterday, several students were forced to join long queues to gather water for bathing purposes at the single tank that services the school’s canteen.
They had to purchase water for drinking and as in the case when the precious liquid is in short supply, their breakfast was delayed by about almost an hour.
The situation is reportedly as a result of a severed pipeline that takes water to the College from the Haslington well.
But the students’ anger was raised after it was known that the tanks in the college had been empty since last Sunday and no effort was made to put contingency measures in place.
“They haven’t told us when we will get water. All they told us is that the pump at Haslington break down and they will try to get water from Enmore or somewhere else,” one student told Kaieteur News.
A source at the school told this newspaper that an official at the Office of the President was informed about the situation since Sunday.
Some students told this newspaper that from as early as Tuesday afternoon they began collecting water from the little rainfall that day and the administration should have known that there would be a problem if it did not rain again.
Early yesterday morning the students were at a loss to obtain a bucket of water to get their day started with a bath since all of the tanks that supply the dorms with water were empty.
But subsequently news spread that there was a tank with water at the back of the canteen and scores of students were seen with buckets heading there around 08:00 hours when they should have already taken their breakfast.
When this newspaper visited the school around 07:45 hours, several students were anxiously milling around the school tuck shop, waiting for it to open to purchase a bottle of water.
This newspaper observed a tank that is placed for drinking water purposes surrounded by co excrements and the students were adamant that it is unhygienic.
The most affected were the students preparing to sit this year’s CSEC examinations, since they cannot afford to miss any lessons at this time.
But employees at the College said that the students themselves are partly to be blamed for the situation.
They claimed that the students use the water indiscriminately despite the advice of the administration.
“Sometimes they leave the taps on and the water normally runs out or sometimes when they get up they waste the water. So now when you have the problem, when the pressure is low, you find that there is no water and they have to run helter-skelter,” an employee explained.
The employees, however, pointed out that there is need for the well in the College to be repaired.
That well has been out of operation for more than two years and, according to reports, it will cost in excess of $50M to be fixed. This is said to be beyond the reach of the College’s financial allocation.
President’s College is reportedly $20M in the red and there are proposals to implement staff cuts to reduce operational costs.
Last year, students of the College staged a massive protest against unhygienic water.
The situation was compounded when the canteen staff refused to use the discoloured water to prepare meals.
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