In an effort to combat inadequate supply from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) has instituted self-generation at three of its Berbice pumping locations, a Government Information Agency (GINA) release said on Monday.

However the generators are designed to work up to four hours and therefore water will still not run if there are power outages beyond four hours.

The release said that the back up generators will assist in providing water to West Coast Berbice residents during their frequent and prolonged power outages. The generators were installed at the Ithaca, Rosignol and Number 57 pump stations. The releases said that they are fully powered and ready to deal with power outages. The installation of a generator at the Ithaca pump station was made possible by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary-Agricultural Development Authority (MMA) who collaborated to boost GWI efforts.

Two additional generators are to be installed at Weldaad and Calcutta; however they have not been sourced as yet.

Meanwhile GWI is urging customers to desist from breaking mains to access water when there are power outages. The company is also urging administrators of public buildings to ensured taps are turned off when there is no water running so that when power returns there will be no wastage of water.