The Guyana Water Inc (GWI) yesterday blamed water supply problems currently being experienced in Berbice on low voltage and appealed to Berbicians to be patient as the company works with the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) to ensure that water is restored to every part of the county shortly.
According to GWI’s Managing Director Dr Richard Van West-Charles, residents between New Amsterdam and Number 69 Village, Corentyne, have been having difficulties in terms of continuous access to water. However, Van West-Charles said that after an examination of their infrastructure and the electrical and mechanical systems, it was discovered that the issue was because of low voltage from GPL to nine pump stations and two treatment plants. It was noted that GPL has indicated that the issue should be fixed before the end of the weekend or by early next week.
“The generation and the quality of the power coming in from GPL has not been at the optimum level for our infrastructure to respond, that is, the pumps within the pumps stations. Hence, we have the readings which clearly show the voltage fluctuations way below what is required for the pump to effectively function in these nine pump stations and also at the treatment plants,” he told a press conference at the New Amsterdam Town Hall yesterday.
He added that they have since placed generators at the two treatment plants, located at Port Mourant and New Amsterdam. According to Van West-Charles, it is no secret that GWI does not have the number of generators required to mitigate the impacts of power outages. “We have a number [of generators] which are spread out throughout the country, we also have to run systems in the hinterland,” he said.
The GWI chief said that the utility company has been in touch with senior officials at GPL, who have been working and guiding GWI as to when the situation will return to normal. He said residents need to understand that without the needed power supply, GWI is unable to supply water. The pumps along the Corentyne coast are so large that even alternative energy, such as solar power, will not suffice to drive most of those pumps, he said.
Meanwhile, GWI’s Executive Director of Operations, Dwayne Shako, stated that GWI’s systems across the country need 415 volts of power for operation. “The problem we are having is that the voltages we are receiving is 380 volts, 360 volts, 320 volts, 390 volts to run a motor that is designed to operate at 415 volts,” he said.
He said they know when pumping stations are having difficulties because they have been monitoring the power supply remotely.
Additionally, he said, many times he has forced his team to “push these motors to run and between five minutes, three minutes, they damage, and these motors cost us $3 million apiece. So, the voltages that we are having in Berbice have been very inconsistent and the quality of power we are receiving is very bad.”
According to Shako, he is in constant contact with GPL and was told that the company is having some generation problems at the Canefield, East Canje, Berbice station. As a result, they are presently “pushing power from Skeldon so the stations that are affected are the stations that are now on the lower end of the system which are the systems in the Canje area and the lower Corentyne. The stations on the upper Corentyne, which are closer to Skeldon, they are not affected because they are closer now to the generation site,” he explained.
The media was also told that while GPL has promised that they would be able to resolve the issue sometime next week, GWI is working on a temporary solution which would be implemented if GPL fails to restore the proper quality and supply of power.
“We have been working with GPL as much as we can. We have been trying to regulate transformers, [and] we’ve been looking at our system to see if we can increase the size of the motor to see if we can compensate for the low voltage,” Shako said.
He emphasised that if GWI is not extremely vigilant and fails to monitor the power quality, then it is likely that its systems would suffer enormous damage. He pointed out that the New Amsterdam and Port Mourant generators have been running continuously for 24 hours for over a week to provide water for residents. “These are stand-by sets that [are] only designed to run eight hours a day. They are now running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, non-stop in order to [be] able to produce water because of the quality of power we are receiving,” he said.
Rates
In terms of issues regarding the hike in water rates, which sparked protest actions in Region Six over the past two weeks, Van West-Charles explained that GWI, along with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in 2017 had a number of public hearings “and many citizens made their representation to the PUC. GWI made their representation and eventually we came out with an order by the PUC in terms of adjustment to the rates…the harmonisation of the rates basically between the rural and urban communities.”
The GWI head said that the first phase of the rates hike was implemented in October 2018 and “basically it deals with the introduction of a fixed charge which permits us to be able to replace and ensure that the distribution networks are at a better state.”
“The harmonisation of the rates is one in which the presentation was made to the PUC and the common understanding arrived at [was] that it costs the same to treat the water in a rural community, or to generate and pump the water in a rural community, as in the urban community, therefore the rates were harmonised,” he said.
Meanwhile, Van West-Charles also called on customers to become more aware of their usage of water since they are going “from the unmetered state to the metered stage.” He said that there is a high probability of water being wasted in an unmetered household and appealed to residents to control their use of water, and conserve.
He also advised that if residents have leaks in their household system, that can be a contributory factor to the spinning of the meters, which can result in a high bill. As such, he called for residents to ensure that the pipes in their houses are not leaking or are properly turned off when they are not using the water.
