GWI to increase water treatment in 2021 – Min. Rodrigues

DPI – Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water Susan Rodrigues said the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) will this year focus on increasing water treatment as part of the Water Company’s efforts to restructure and provide potable water to unserved and underserved communities across the country.

Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues
“As it is right now, we are not in compliance with WHO [World Health Organization] standards in terms of iron content,” the Minister said during an interview on the Department of Public Information’s (DPI) ‘The Progress Report’.

In a previous interview with DPI, she had stated that only 52 per cent of the nation’s population receives treated water. As such the Ministry in 2020 concluded a detailed proposal for the expansion of water treatment starting with the coastland.

The proposal seeks to bring treated water along the coast to at least 95 per cent. The Government is actively sourcing $100 million in capital to execute this project.
Rodrigues said, “we certainly want to rectify that; that is a top priority for us and so we’re aggressively pursuing.”

Minister Rodrigues alleged that upon entering office in August, it was discovered that the company is in a dire financial state.

“We’re looking closely at the company to see if we can at least break even…The company is bankrupt. We’re trying to ensure that we can restructure it in such a way to make it more lean and efficient so that we can provide better service to our citizens” the Minister stated.

She said too that the company’s customer service capacity has also been revamped. A dashboard was created to monitor the water pressure and service levels in communities and to address issues that may arise before customers complain.

In 2021, GWI will continue working towards ensuring Guyanese across the country benefit from potable water in keeping with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal Six to ensure access to clean water and sanitation.