Only 30 licensed to sell water  

…standards for several others deficient, water dirty  

A number of water processors are operating illegally without the requisite license and approvals from the Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD), which also said that many of them are selling dirty water to the public.

In a press release the department said that the findings of a water processing survey that was conducted among forty-six processors in Georgetown and its immediate environs revealed that a number of the companies were not in compliant with the safety requirements for their operations.

The survey exercise was conducted during the period October 2020 and January 2021. According to the department a total of 160 water samples were taken by inspectors of the department and submitted to the Food Microbiology laboratory where the test parameters for Total Coliform and E. coli were performed: a test that gives a general indication of the sanitary and safety condition of the water supplied. “This survey / exercise was therefore conducted to determine whether the sanitary / microbiological requirements as outlined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard for drinking water quality were being met,” the release stated.

According to the department of the 160 samples submitted, 109 or 68% were found to be satisfactory, while 51 or 32% were found to be unsatisfactory for the parameters tested. The department then had cause to with immediate effect ask ten water processors to cease operations and there were only allowed to resume operations after satisfying sanitary and microbiological safety requirements in the best interest of the consuming public.

Environmental Health Officers (EHO’s) or Sanitary Inspectors who worked collaboratively with Inspectors of the GA-FDD have been alerted to this survey/exercise findings and would be conducting a similar survey among water processors in their regions, the release stated.

Only 25 of the 46 water processors who participated in the survey were in possession of the Water Treatment & Basic Sanitation certificate issued by Empretec Guyana Inc. and this is another basic requirement that water processors must fulfill, in order to be licenced or be approved to process, the department stated.