Drainage Perspectives of Georgetown

Nov 07, 2019 Letters

Dear Editor,

In a letter by Mrs. Pat Commissiong which appeared in KN on Nov. 02, she refuted a statement made in the news media by Mr. Hamilton Green, a former Mayor of the City of Georgetown that, “not all trenches dug in Guyana were drainage canals”. She claimed that during the early development of Georgetown as a city, the trenches dug along Camp Street., Waterloo Street and elsewhere in the City were not drainage canals but water reservoirs for use in the event of fires.
Mrs. Commissiong’s claim belies the facts since the fundamental purpose for which the canals were dug at that time was to drain their adjoining developed areas from excess rainfall and store the water in the dug canals used as catchments since the canals had no outlets to the Demerara River or Atlantic Ocean. The stored water was expected to evaporate and seep into the underground water table as the canals were not lined. It was not unusual during heavy rainfall for the stored water to over-top the canals’ banks and flood the adjoining properties. The stored water in the canals were also a useful source of water for fire fighters as Mrs. Commissiong stated.
In Guyana, a trench was generally considered a drainage canal while a punt trench was used as a waterway for punts – a flat bottomed steel vessel to transport materials to and from a sugar factory.

The Dutch sugar plantation owners had constructed a system of drainage, irrigation and punt canals on their holdings based on experience they had transplanted from their home country and adopted in Guyana to successfully cultivate sugar. Drainage, Irrigation and punt trenches/canals are distinct and separate entities and where they intersect, aqueducts were built with the punt trenches located on the upper levels.
Bookers, an East Coast Demerara (ECD) sugar plantation owner had used one of its punt trenches to transport sugar and other materials from its ECD estates thru’ La Penitence to a port facility on the Demerara River. The section of punt trench thru’ the City has now been filled in and named a boulevard.

Harvested canes were transported by punts hauled by mules and later tractors from fields to factories. Workers and field materials were also transported by punts to predetermined destinations.
The Lamaha Canal had originally extended from the East Demerara Water Conservancy to a plant located at the eastern junction of Camp & Lamaha Streets to provide potable water for Georgetown. Today, the canal ends at Vlissengen Rd. and supplies water for the Bel Air Park treatment plant.
Finally, the koker/sluice passing thru’ Muneshwar’s property on Water Street has had its function severely compromised by indiscriminate development and poor maintenance causing channel restrictions upstream and downstream of the structure. Therefore, it is not surprising that yearly flooding occurs to the areas now drained by this koker/sluice.
Yours truly,
Charles Sohan

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