Dear Editor,
This letter serves to advise on the sewerage problem highlighted in a letter in your June 3, 2008 issue (‘Sewage overflow in New Market Street).
Please be informed that a sewerage pumping station exists at the Main and New Market Streets location. The pump at this station became damaged due to the constant misuse of our sewerage system, of which the Municipal Abattoir is the major contributor to this continuous problem.
The Municipal Abattoir at New Market and Water Streets, although advised on more than one occasion, has continued to discharge its waste into our sewerage system.
This waste includes animal dung, blood, fats and other meat scraps which find their way into the sewerage system because of a poorly designed slaughter area at the Abattoir. This increased load on the system causes the pumps to fail, and as a result the pumping station goes out of operation until repairs are done.
Today, the Municipal Abattoir has been advised and given a specific time in which to have the necessary traps installed to prevent any animal waste from entering the sewerage system. Only waste from the toilet facilities will be allowed to be discharged into our sewerage system.
Presently the wet well at this sewerage station is filled with animal dung that has accumulated over the months. This is the main cause of the smell in this vicinity. In addition, the current rainy season aggravates the problem since customers’ yards become flooded and the storm water mixes with the waste water from the inspection chambers.
Please note that although the pump at this location is not operational, waste water from the New Market and Main Streets area is collected at the New Market and Camp Streets pumping station.
Finally, our Maintenance Team is working to have a mobile pump installed at this location by Thursday, June 5, 2008.
The overflowing sewage depicted in your June 3, 2008 issue, is a result of a customer at this location installing an overflow pipe from one of the inspection chambers in their yard.
Yours faithfully,
M Mendonca
Sanitation Manager
Guyana Water Inc
