GWI moving towards 24-hr water supply nationally

Jan 17, 2016 News

– CEO says rationing was senseless

By Mondale Smith
Guyana is no different from the rest of the world as regards to the need for accessibility to potable, safe

GWI CEO Dr Richard Van West-Charles

water at all times. It is against this backdrop that while water rationing has been a major source of concern over the years to various communities, this policy will no longer be the order of the day.
GWI Chief Executive Dr. Richard Van West Charles emphasised this position which he said is shared by his management team. He told this publication that while it may have been a policy of the previous administration to reduce electricity cost by rationing water to sections of the society, “Guyana is a land of many waters and water rationing days are at an end”.
“Our analysis shows that rationing to save electricity cost does not make sense, because when you run the pumps for a shorter period of time, shut them down and then re-activate them, the energy cost would peak.”
Other issues that resulted in water rationing were efforts to address quality and reliability of the service.
Dr. Van West-Charles stressed that GWI wants to ensure that the customer is happy enough with the service provided to pay their bills.
Citing an example of rationing, the CEO said when he took office he met the case of Agricola receiving nine hours of water supply daily, which to him did not make sense, as it is imperative that the company meet the people’s demand for water to reduce public health problems related to water-borne diseases etc.
In light of this, he said that “in recent times we have increased the delivery of water from eight and nine hours to 18 hours, and before year end, we are moving to 24 hours of water accessibility through taps to homes, offices and institutions in all areas on our network.” The 18 hours of water delivery runs from 05:00hrs to 23:00 hrs daily.