Engineer warns Georgetown’s development boom outpacing drainage capacity

Jun 24, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – A veteran control systems engineer, Patrice Roberts, has re-presented a proposal to automate the city’s aging koker system, warning that Georgetown’s ongoing development boom is dangerously outpacing its drainage capacity. The presentation, delivered to municipal leaders on Monday, revived a concept previously sidelined by officials. Mayor Alfred Mentore acknowledged the history of the submission, noting it was “this thing that was presented a number of years ago” but ultimately left unacted upon. Roberts explained his return to City Hall, stating, “I was here a few years ago where I did a presentation which, at that time, didn’t apparently seem fitting.”

Drawing on over 30 years’ experience in control systems, Roberts argued that modern urban expansion has systematically dismantled the city’s natural defenses. “As we all know, historically, Georgetown was basically a plantation back in the day, and there were lots of drainage and irrigation canals,” he noted. He explained that while those canals served as critical catchment areas for rainfall whenever there was high-intensity excess, they were progressively removed as the city developed. “The avenues, as we know them, Waterloo, Carmichael, Camp Street, and Thomas Street, the avenues were all canals which held water,” Roberts reminded the council.

The loss of these historical waterways has created severe storage issues during intense downpours. Roberts emphasized that “once those were removed, the water didn’t suddenly disappear,” meaning it must now be stored somewhere else whenever there is intense rainfall. He criticized the lack of foresight in the city’s growth, stating, “I don’t think much consideration was given to us as we continued to expand the city.” He pointed specifically to modern building practices, observing that “you see many developments happening now with where persons’ are paving their yard and allowing the water to go on the road,” which ultimately forces immediate runoff into a severely strained municipal network. He warned, “So the situation which we have built, unless we manage it, it will not get better.”

Citing a data model compiled by a researcher named Mr. Hackett, Roberts’ presentation laid bare the mathematical impossibility of the city’s current infrastructure keeping up with modern weather patterns. The city’s current infrastructure, comprising a 28.5 square kilometer catchment area managed by 10 sluices and 12 pumps, is only capable of draining 5.5 millimeters of rainfall per hour. However, recent weather events completely dwarf this threshold. The data showed that a 2013 storm brought in excess of 21.5 millimeters of rain in an hour, while 2025 saw intensities exceeding 17.3 millimeters. The crisis reached new heights in February of 2026, when a downpour dropped an unprecedented 24.2 millimeters of rain in a given hour. “That in itself tells the story,” Roberts stressed. “If you have that level of rainfall, there’s no way the existing system would be able to manage it.” He added that while the pumps will assist, the drainage system simply cannot do the job alone, especially when “the manual aspect kicks in, and that in itself impacts the efficiency also.”

The operational limits of the current koker system are strictly bound by the daily tides, relying on unpredictable windows for gravity drainage. Operators generally have “about 8 to 10 hours of which available per day to drain the city by gravity,” which expands to 10 to 12 hours during spring tides but shrinks to just 6 to 8 hours per day during neap tides. Because these sluices must be opened by hand, timing errors can be catastrophic. “Like I said, it’s open by hand, and if it’s late opening, it becomes a very costly mistake,” Roberts explained. He pitched his automated overhaul as the remedy to this vulnerability, stating, “So the solution that I’m offering is really an automatic solution, like I said. It’s going to open automatically. It doesn’t require a manual interface, and it’s going to close automatically.” He noted the system would run 24 hours a day on standby so that “you wouldn’t lose 15 minutes because the attendant was asleep, or he was cooking, or it was raining, and he couldn’t get out to do… or he was drunk, in some cases. You wouldn’t have that system, not that occurring anymore.”

Demonstrating the technology through a live simulation, Roberts walked officials through the automated sequence, showing how electronic sensors on both the canal side and the outfall side monitor the system continuously. When the controller detects high water in the canal and low water at the outfall, “the door is going to open automatically because the sensors detected that the water was high in the canal and low in the sea.” As the water drains, the sensors track the receding levels, shifting from a dangerous red status to a safe green reading. Once the canal level and the rising tide equalize, the system automatically closes the door to prevent ocean water from rushing back into the city. To address safety concerns, Roberts demonstrated a critical safety feature known as an interlock, which prevents the gates from opening if the ocean level is higher than the city canals. Attempting to force the door open during the simulation triggered an immediate safeguard, with Roberts noting, “it tells you it’s open because there’s an interlock,” ensuring the system would protect the city from sea-defense breaches.

In closing his presentation, Roberts firmly advocated for using local talent to implement the upgrades, noting that the country possesses the engineering capacity to manage its own modern infrastructure. “So, I think the expertise we’re talking about here is local,” he concluded, clarifying that “we’re not importing any… We only import the technology.” Backing his proposal with three decades of professional credibility, he stated, “I, myself, I’m an engineer for in excess of 30 years. I have lots of experience in dealing with control systems.” City Hall has yet to announce whether it will allocate funds or approvals to pilot Roberts’ automated koker project.

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• development boom, drainage, Engineer, flooding, Georgetown

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