Georgetown, Guyana: Friday, June 1, 2018 – Fifteen thousand customers from some 24 communities in Berbice, Region 6 will benefit from improved water quality, upon completion of the water treatment plant that is being constructed at the Sheet Anchor village.
Following an inspection of ongoing works during a site visit on Friday, June 1, 2018, GWI’s Managing Direction, Dr. Richard Van West-Charles noted his satisfaction with the pace of the project.
In this phase of the project, the following basic works have been completed:
- The basic design of the water treatment plant, including the unit treatment processes and the hydraulic grade line, has been approved.
- The pile designs were approved and piling has commenced.
- The structural design of the sedimentation tank and filters has been submitted and is under review.
- The site paving and grading plan has been submitted and approved.
- The fencing details have been submitted and approved.
With the approvals obtained, work during the last months focused on pile driving.
According to Dr. Van West-Charles, to date all piles (19.2m long) have been driven for the sedimentation tank and the filters and work on preparation for concreting have commenced for these two structures.
Piling for the ground storage tanks also continued during the month and to date, some 30 piles out of 76 have been installed for tank number one. Piling is therefore about 48 % complete.
Dr. Van West-Charles said, “This is going to be very important in terms of the villages that are going to be the beneficiaries from Number 25 Village down to Gangaram. Gangaram was previously supplied by Guy-Su-Co.”
The serving areas (populations) are provided below:
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In the interim however, GWI has implemented the use of SeaQuest in Sheet Anchor to improve the water quality, until the water treatment plant is functional.
The application of SeaQuest in the area comes on the heels of a community meeting with residents and Regional representatives, regarding GWI’s efforts to improve the water quality and metering in Sheet Anchor.
“Currently the lines are being cleaned and as this project is completed…it is earmarked to be completed by September 2019, the lines will be cleaned because of the SeaQuest and the aeration system will also deal with the iron content, so I think the residents, come 2019 will have a different quality of life with respect to access to water”, the Managing Director posited.
Metering is being finalized in the 3 water treatment plant areas simultaneously. These are Sheet Anchor, Uitvlugt and Diamond. This will help to curb individual wastage, reduce water loss and promote efficiency.
Commenting on the benefits of the project thus far, Dr. Van West-Charles said while Sinohydro won the contract to execute the three plants, the local economy is benefitting tremendously, both directly and indirectly.
“You can see the benefits already for the local economy, the piles are coming from all over, the ones that we have here for example are coming from Kwakwani...The sub-contractor and a number of workers were employed locally, including a lone female who is having a good experience on the site. So, in terms of employment and sub-contracting, the economy is going to benefit.”, He stated.
Meanwhile, Region 6 Democratic Council Representative, Mr. Phillip Rose commended GWI on improvement works done to date in the county, while welcoming the construction of the WTP at Sheet Anchor. He also called on residents to practice conservation, since it is costly to provided treated water.
