Low water pressure at Uitvlugt Sideline Dam

Dear Editor,

Days before the last general election, I complained to Minister Jennifer Webster at one of the PPP/C bottom-house meetings about the low water pressure at the Uitvlugt Sideline Dam, and she promised to look into the matter immediately. Apparently she did, because a few days after that, people were talking of the water pressure forcing their showerheads off and about the height the water was going. Low and behold, immediately after the elections, the residents had to return to setting their buckets to get water to bathe, because miraculously the water pressure had dropped! On questioning the GWI workers they could not explain what happened.

At Zeelugt, water meters were installed and contract workers came and cemented them onto the ground to prevent tampering. Immediately after that, another set of contract workers came with sledge hammers and broke the cement off the meters without any explanation. Did the contractors get paid for cementing the water meters and did those who broke up the cement get paid? Perhaps GWI could shed some light on that matter. Also, the residents would like an explanation as to why their water is cut off at midday every day and starts back at 3pm. When there’s a black-out, the water is also cut off and when power comes back it takes at least half an hour or an hour before the water is turned back on.

In Non Pareil, when you turn the water on, the smell emanating from it would make you scared to touch it, but the residents said that is the water they are using all the time. If you look at the buckets and tubs or their clothes, they all have a rusty colour. I am just wondering if the colour comes about because of the water, whether that is the water that residents who cannot afford to purchase drinking water are forced to drink. If so, then what is the colour inside their bodies?

Editor, during last week, for two days, I heard a loudspeaker saying that the GWI disconnection crew would be coming around to disconnect water, and people should pay their water bills. With all the investment/spending the government has done on GWI, why can’t Guyanese get a proper supply of water? Why are they forcing people to pay for water that they can’t use or hardly get, whilst there are some who are getting to fill their swimming pools? Do the poor people pay the same amount as the residential areas?

Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates