Water level drops in conservancy

Jun 18, 2015 News

– as discharge continues through Hope Canal
Since the discharge of water via the eight-door sluice of the Northern Relief Channel recommenced on Tuesday morning, the operation has continued non-stop to reduce the level of water in the East Demerara Water

Water level drops in conservancy

Conservancy (EDWC).
This evening the level was recorded at 58.15 Georgetown Datum (GD) having dropped from the 58.25 GD that was recorded Tuesday evening.
The operation became necessary to preserve the structural integrity of the conservancy’s earthen embankments due to the high water level within. Water had reached the threatening level of 58.25GD in the conservancy which has a height of 59 GD. There were 52 millimetres (about two inches) of rainfall recorded at Flagstaff at the EDWC, Head of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Lionel Wordsworth told the Government Information Agency (GINA) last evening.
Temporary lighting was installed on Tuesday evening at the Northern Relief Channel of the Hope-Dochfour outlet and at the head regulator to facilitate water discharge all night. Tonight and tomorrow discharge will continue, Wordsworth said.
For the first time the $3.6B Hope Canal project was tested on Saturday in the wake of excessive rainfall that resulted in the level of the EDWC rising to 58.25 GD.
“It has impacted positively on the level of the conservancy over the past 24 hours. The operation will continue until the required level is achieved,” Wordsworth said.
The Northern Relief Channel became the first option over the use of the Maduni and Lama sluices because those could have worsened flood conditions in the upper reaches of the Mahaica and Mahaicony Rivers, Wordsworth told GINA on Monday.
Water is also being discharged from the conservancy through the Kofi, Cunha and Land of Canaan relief sluices into the Demerara River.
Meanwhile in the upper reaches of the Mahaica and Mahaicony Rivers, the water level is high due to rainfall in the upper catchment areas over the past week, Wordsworth said.
Gravity drainage from the farmlands is therefore not possible. In the areas where there are outlets closer to the discharge points in the rivers, drainage is possible.
Wordsworth said that the new pump station built at Pine Ground, Mahaicony was activated on Saturday to bring relief to farmlands in Pine Ground on the right bank of the Mahaicony river.
There is a pump functioning, as well at Biaboo on the right bank of the Mahaica River.