Georgetown: Almost one billion persons on our planet don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water and proper sanitization. That’s one in every eight of us while 80% of all global diseases are water-borne and result from drinking contaminated water.
Fortunately, Guyana the “land of many waters” is positioning itself to take advantage of the impending water market which is set to be the next big commodity on the global market. The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) is keeping a keen eye on this industry.
For the past several years many persons have joined the street corners within the city of Georgetown to sell bottled water which has given itself a life and industry of its own in a country where the humidity can reach 35 Degrees Celsius.
However, Guyana has not yet positioned itself in exporting water on a large scale to countries like the United States which will eventually experience a water scarcity within the next decade.
It could be said without fear of contradiction that every citizen in Guyana has been affected by a water-borne disease, either directly, having had a relative or family member fall ill or die, or knowing someone who has. Hence the ‘water industry’, which came into being more than 15 years ago, is still growing with new entrepreneurs still investing in providing drinking water with the expectation of making healthy profits. More than likely they will because despite the protestations to the contrary by the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI), Guyana’s tap water is of dubious quality. As such there has been sanitation projects to replace underground pipes which contributed to cross contamination.
Key issues in the water and sanitation sector in Guyana are poor service quality, a low level of cost recovery and low levels of access. In 2008 the public utility Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) implementing a Turnaround Plan to reduce non-revenue water and to financially consolidate the utility.
In 2011 Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh and the Inter- American Development Bank representative Marco Nicola signed two agreements aimed at developing the water sector. The agreements include a US$ 12 million loan aimed at improving the water quality and the efficiency of the water supply system in Linden, and a US$3 million deal to establish a wastewater revolving fund project.
The US$ 12 million loan will go towards improving quality, efficiency of delivery and sustainability of the drinking water supply in Linden. The funds will help the town to cut energy use; improve delivery, quality and continuity of the water supply system; reduce the level of revenue loss due to physical and commercial reasons; and strengthen the operational and maintenance performance of the GWI.
According to the IDB, problems faced by GWI as it looks to improve its services and management of operation include aging pipes, some of which were laid in the 1920s and never replaced for lack of planning. It also said levels of asset management and maintenance at GWI is insufficient. It further states that “electromechanical efficiency of equipment as low as 50% (in 2012), which, combined with the current Operations and Maintenance (O&M) practices and the energy costs, brings GWI expenditure on energy to about 53% of its annual OPEX (operational expenses).”
High energy costs were also cited as a strain to GWI’s operations. The company currently pays US$0.3 per kWh, among the highest in the Caribbean, to pump its water and to power is sewerage system.
The IDB noted that service, at times, is unreliable, as pressure can be as low as 1 to 3 m3 and some communities, even in Georgetown, receive running water for a period of 16 hours a day.
Hydro Project
Guyana is also rich in hydro resources and deserves to benefit from its own natural wealth, which has been in the pipeline for several years without materialization because of incompetence on behalf of the government and their contractors.
The plant should be built where the Amaila and Kuribrong rivers meets. This will deliver electricity to Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, and its second largest town, Linden, by an electric transmission line. Construction of the hydro facility and electrical interconnection commenced late 2013. It is touted to take approximately four years to complete which at its present pace seems unrealistic.
The construction of a new 165MW hydroelectric facility creates an opportunity for Guyana to generate its own power from a clean, natural source and with it a dependable, affordable source of electricity fostering growth and economic development in the country.
Under what is known as a BOOT arrangement (Build Own Operate Transfer), Guyana will be acquiring the 165-megawatt facility 20 years after it is has been commissioned and in operation. The project is expected to cost US$840 million, including all construction and financing costs.
According to the Global Water Partnership (GWP) “water insecurity costs the global economy some US$500 billion annually.”
Under the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7 – Ensure Environmental Sustainability – target 10 requires nations to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and sanitation. (Rabindra Rooplall)
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