Safe water supply – and the good life

Jan 06, 2019 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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A Partnership for National Unity – APNU- and our coalition partner the Alliance for Change – AFC – campaigned on delivering a good life for all Guyanese. The ‘good life’ entails providing every citizen with opportunities to be the best he or she can be. The ‘good life’ is about securing sustained economic prosperity, ensuring citizens’ access to quality public services and promoting social cohesion.
The ‘good life’ involves eliminating extreme poverty and removing social, ethnic and geographic inequalities. The ultimate indicators of the good life are happy communities, happy households and happy people.
On entering office in May 2015, we immediately recognised that the Peoples Progressive Party – PPP – had severely neglected all public utilities. On careful examination, it became evident that large swaths of the country had no access to safe water supply and in communities that had water, the quality was questionable. It was clear that people in these communities could not enjoy a good standard of life if a basic necessity like safe water supply was not readily available.
Water is a fundamental human need. Each person on Earth requires at least 20 to 50 litres of clean, safe water a day for drinking, cooking, and simply keeping themselves clean. Over the past three years the coalition government has successfully delivered safe drinking water to thousands of Guyanese, many of them for the very first time.
In 2015 several areas in the Demerara Mahaica and East Berbice-Corentyne regions were targeted for the delivery of safe water supply. Over 2000 residents in Sophia, Ann’s Grove, (Demerara Mahaica) Tucber, Savannah Park and Number 68 village (East Berbice Corentyne) received access to potable water for the very first time.
In 2016 39,830 residents across seven regions received access to potable water for the very first time. In Georgetown more than 3,000 residents of Sophia and surrounding areas benefited from improved water supply, with the completion of the ground storage tank at Sophia.
Residents of Georgetown receive 24-hour supply of water for the first time. A mini laboratory to monitor water quality was established and service connections upgrades were done in Fyrish, Liverpool, Manchester, Lancaster, Number 43 to 51 villages in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region, at a cost of over $2.5 million.
In the hinterland, 750 residents of Monkey Mountain gained access to potable water for the first time due to the installation of 2800 metres of pipe, catchment areas, water trestles and stand pipes. In Kuma, Rupartee, Wowetta, Aranaputa and Shulinab in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region approximately 5000 residents got first time access to water due to the drilling of wells.
In 2017, 15,377 residents across nine regions gained access to potable water for the very first time. In New Amsterdam, over 7,000 residents gained first time access to 24-hour supply of water due to an upgrade of the water supply system. In Silver Hill, Waiakabra and Hillfoot on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway, more than 2,000 residents gained first time access due to new water systems that were constructed. At Lima Sands in the Pomeroon-Supenaam region, 2,600 residents gained first time access to safe water due to the drilling of wells and the installation of a new water supply system.
Your government’s programme in the water sector, for 2018, was aimed at increasing access to safe water and reducing the disparity in service between the coastland and hinterland communities. An estimated 7,903 households (more than 31,600 persons) benefitted from access to potable water for the first time. Work was advanced on the construction of three new water treatment plants at Uitvlugt, Diamond and Sheet Anchor to provide improved access to potable water for more than 50,000 persons – a project that will be completed this year.
A cooperation agreement with the Federative Republic of Brazil witnessed the installation of eight new wells to provide potable water to more than 4,800 persons in eight indigenous communities in Shea, Maruranau, Awarewaunau, Bashaidrun, Achawib, Karaudarnau, Aishalton and Chirkidnau.
The Ministry of Natural Resources, in collaboration with the residents of Nappi, Haiowa and Parishara Villages, Rupununi, and a local contractor – JR Ranch Inc – constructed one of the first water catchment areas planned for that Region.
The catchment area is approximately three kilometres in length and the dam is eight hundred (800) metres and is estimated to hold approximately three million cubic metres of water at full capacity.
This Water Catchment Area will serve as a model to demonstrate how employing long-term solutions to water management can help communities to become more resilient to the effects of prolonged drought and El Niño spells and climate change.
In his address to the National Assembly on November 2, 2017 Chairman of APNU and President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana His Excellency David Granger iterated “A ‘good life’ is about making people happy. People will be happy when they know that they have a government which cares for them; when they can be assured of life’s basic needs – food, clothes, shelter, safe water, safe streets, a sound education, and high standard of health care.
Our vision is for every Guyanese to be able to enjoy ‘a good life’- one that is based on the acceptance that people existence is characterised by three key freedoms- freedom from fear, freedom from want and freedom to live in dignity”.

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