Travelling in a car along the Hague Back road is like riding a horse. You jerk from side to side and have to hold on tight. And once in the West Demerara community, a common sight is people bathing and washing clothes in the trench. They have pipes but no running water.
Residents, who long had put up with this are extremely upset and on Friday, they complained to this newspaper about the state of the road and the lack of running water.
Contacted on the water issue, Public Relations Officer of Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) Carleen Langford said the problem was caused by high levels of water wastage and leakages. She said sectional delivery of water in that area would commence this week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Attempts to contact Region Three Chairman Julius Faerber for a comment on the state of the road were futile.
Residents, mainly housewives, told this newspaper about the lack of running water at the last section of Hague Back.
Debbie Ganesh, who has been living there for eight years, said she has never received any running water through the pipes. “You gat the pipe but you nah get the water.” The woman said the water company was still sending her bills.
The housewives said that several complaints had been made to the water utility but “we ain’t know what is the position with them”.
Within that section of the community, it was observed that at almost every home, there were “landings” at the trench. At several of these persons were washing clothes and some were bathing. Stabroek News was told that the trench was normally used for those purposes though during the dry season it became difficult as the level of the water dropped. During the reaping of rice the water level fell too, residents said. “The trench water getting very bad now,” one woman observed noting that when the water level was low the water became discoloured, muddy and it stank.
Dayveka Girdhari said that while some residents had black tanks to store water, it was hard as the water ran out quickly.
The woman said she has two very small children and could not wash their clothes in the trench water. She was hanging out clothes that she had just finished washing in the trench when this newspaper caught up with her and she declared that since she moved to the area five years ago she never received any running water. “Several times we complain but nobody never do anything about it”, she lamented.
Other residents meanwhile said that though they had several meetings with government officials nothing was done.
“We does get meetings. They does tell we, we gon get road, water but nothing improve, everything deh the same way,” one asserted.
Another stated that “it hard but we don’t have a choice”. Residents revealed that they usually fetch water from another section of the community.
Langford said GWI was aware of the problem, which was caused by high levels of unaccounted for water through wastage and leakages. She said pumps were also being used to draw water in surrounding communities contributing to the problem. She said the water company would disconnect those consumers guilty of those activities. “It is unfortunate that these residents have to suffer this inconvenience,” she added.
She said sectional delivery of water to the area would commence this week and would be done on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Questioned as to why after receiving the complaints, nothing was done to alleviate the problem, Langford restated that the company was pursuing a disconnection campaign and sectional delivery of water would commence “this week”.
Meanwhile, residents also bemoaned the state of the potholed road, which they said has been that way for years. It was observed that the road, which is some three and a half miles long, has numerous potholes and is very bumpy. During the rainy season, residents said, the road gets very muddy forcing children to walk to school with long boots or slippers.
At such times, transportation was difficult as taxis did not want to operate in those conditions and because of the extremely muddy state of the road, persons could not use their bicycles.
Hire-car drivers, who ply that route, expressed their frustration with the state of the road. “It’s very bad”, one man stated noting that he had lived there for a number of years and the road remained in the same state.
Another resident said that promises were made to fix the road but the only thing done was the “throwing of some material” and then grading the road, but that deteriorated quickly.
Itihaaz Alli, a hire-car driver, said that with the state of the road his car’s shocks and tyres “damage steady”.
One man, who said that he
had lived there for 11 years, declared that only occasionally repairs were undertaken.
Another resident said that earlier this year, they were told that the road would be repaired but only two truckloads of materials were used when 15 truckloads were promised.
Residents said that during the dry season, dust from the road affected them and during the reaping of the rice crop, the machines further damaged the road. “This is an agricultural area, we plant rice, cash crop, we got garden
