Thousands of East Bank residents to soon benefit from improved, 24-hrs water service

Hundreds of millions of dollars are being expended to build new wells and water treatment plants and enhance existing ones. And by next year, residents along the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) are expected to benefit from improved water supply.

This is according to Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, who visited sites at Eccles, Covent Garden, Diamond and Caledonia on Wednesday to inspect ongoing works.

The works form part of a programme which will not only improve the level of service provided but will alleviate water issues currently faced by residents of the East Bank of Demerara.

“The aim of my visit is to show the residents and the population of our entire programme that we have for East Bank. At the end of this programme, it will see the interconnecting of all the systems on the East Bank of Demerara so that everyone will have a balance level of service and whichever area you have, will receive the same level of service,” Croal said.

Altogether, Croal said the works that are being executed at these locations amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Once completed, it will allow residents of the East Bank of Demerara to have access to 24 hours water supply at an increase pressure.

With works almost complete at several of these locations, they are expected to be operational in time for the Christmas holiday.

Others will be completed by mid-next year.

“While we been building in house capacity to be able to drill more wells we also simultaneously have been contracting many of the wells but we save a lot. The cost you spend when you have to drill one in house, you probably can do two wells with the cost when you have to contract it.

At Covent Garden, EBD, while the water treatment plant is operational, a new well is being drilled. It is expected to be completed early next year.”

A new well is also being drilled at Sixth Street, Diamond, EBD. This project is practically completed and will be activated on Friday, December 22, 2023.

“….The amount of work that we have, we just can’t build all in house but we are building capacity so I am happy with the result that we have here,” Croal said.

To enhance the water pressure, a new well is also being drilled at the Golden Grove water treatment plant. Upon completion, residents will have 24-hour water supply.

And, at Caledonia, the water treatment plant, which serves residents from Craig to the Soesdyke junction, works are three months ahead of the project deadline.  A new well will also be built at this location in the new year.

The aim, Croal said is to ensure every citizen have access to potable water by 2025.

“On the coastland, we must have 100 per cent access of water to households, and similarly in the hinterland. That is our objective. That is our target that we are trying to achieve and we have about two more years to ensure that we achieve that,” he said.