Is it too much to ask for a reliable supply of potable water?
DEAR EDITOR,
Guyanese have become so accustomed to poor governance, corruption and lack of accountability and integrity by the Jagdeo/Ramotar regime over the last 12 years that they have come to accept gross incompetency and very low standards for State-provided services such as in security, electricity, water, roads, health, education, social services, and the like, as the norm in society.
The key functions of a government are to keep law and order within its boundaries, protect its people and guard its borders from invasion by external enemies, prevent man-made floods and create and maintain the conditions for the people to survive and hopefully for economic and human development.
The availability of adequate supplies of potable water is part of the minimum conditions for the people to exist. But if water is the criterion for judging the establishment of the conditions for Guyanese to thrive and exist, then the minority regime will definitely get a failing grade. This is also true of health care, especially in the public hospitals where maternal deaths are frequent due to incompetent and inexperienced medical personnel and lack of proper drugs; and the educational system where the public schools are failing the majority of students and the infrastructure at University of Guyana has collapsed.
At least four times a month, and in some areas almost all year long, there is a water shortage. How severe and how prolonged the shortage depends on where one lives. In the rural areas, there are water shortages almost every day and nothing has been done to improve the situation.
Ironically, in the old days, water was available to the people year-round from the continuous flow of wells in the rural areas. Today, the people have their own domestic catchment and storage facilities, and yet for days some people are experiencing water shortage. The old, self-reliant system of wells has fallen into disrepair because the unconcerned administration has not invested in the infrastructure of the water supply system.
The PPP has lulled Guyanese into a false sense of security that the Water Commission will always be able to supply adequate amounts of water to everyone; if only it would improve the efficiency of its operations. This is a fallacy, because the problem starts with the absence of a policy on water, regrettably because of gross incompetency. There is enough rainfall and ground water to serve the needs of the country well into the future, but the government is incapable of providing adequate mechanisms to supply adequate water to the people.
Because of the PPP cabalβs lack of management skills, one in three Guyanese, most of them in the poorest 30 per cent of the population do not have access to piped water supply. The symbols of this failure are the large, ugly, expensive, black water storage tanks, on top of roofs of houses, every business place, school, hospital and public building that deface the landscape in the more affluent areas of the country.
Is it too much to ask of the government that all Guyanese be guaranteed a reliable, accessible, affordable, year-round supply of a minimum of 1,000 cubic metres of potable water per capita? This is the internationally accepted minimum requirement and, given Guyanaβs climate, geography and water resources, it is a perfectly attainable target. After all, Guyana is the land of many waters. But where is the water? That is the question the government ought to answer.
Asquith Rose and Harish Singh
Guyanese have become so accustomed to poor governance, corruption and lack of accountability and integrity by the Jagdeo/Ramotar regime over the last 12 years that they have come to accept gross incompetency and very low standards for State-provided services such as in security, electricity, water, roads, health, education, social services, and the like, as the norm in society.
The key functions of a government are to keep law and order within its boundaries, protect its people and guard its borders from invasion by external enemies, prevent man-made floods and create and maintain the conditions for the people to survive and hopefully for economic and human development.
The availability of adequate supplies of potable water is part of the minimum conditions for the people to exist. But if water is the criterion for judging the establishment of the conditions for Guyanese to thrive and exist, then the minority regime will definitely get a failing grade. This is also true of health care, especially in the public hospitals where maternal deaths are frequent due to incompetent and inexperienced medical personnel and lack of proper drugs; and the educational system where the public schools are failing the majority of students and the infrastructure at University of Guyana has collapsed.
At least four times a month, and in some areas almost all year long, there is a water shortage. How severe and how prolonged the shortage depends on where one lives. In the rural areas, there are water shortages almost every day and nothing has been done to improve the situation.
Ironically, in the old days, water was available to the people year-round from the continuous flow of wells in the rural areas. Today, the people have their own domestic catchment and storage facilities, and yet for days some people are experiencing water shortage. The old, self-reliant system of wells has fallen into disrepair because the unconcerned administration has not invested in the infrastructure of the water supply system.
The PPP has lulled Guyanese into a false sense of security that the Water Commission will always be able to supply adequate amounts of water to everyone; if only it would improve the efficiency of its operations. This is a fallacy, because the problem starts with the absence of a policy on water, regrettably because of gross incompetency. There is enough rainfall and ground water to serve the needs of the country well into the future, but the government is incapable of providing adequate mechanisms to supply adequate water to the people.
Because of the PPP cabalβs lack of management skills, one in three Guyanese, most of them in the poorest 30 per cent of the population do not have access to piped water supply. The symbols of this failure are the large, ugly, expensive, black water storage tanks, on top of roofs of houses, every business place, school, hospital and public building that deface the landscape in the more affluent areas of the country.
Is it too much to ask of the government that all Guyanese be guaranteed a reliable, accessible, affordable, year-round supply of a minimum of 1,000 cubic metres of potable water per capita? This is the internationally accepted minimum requirement and, given Guyanaβs climate, geography and water resources, it is a perfectly attainable target. After all, Guyana is the land of many waters. But where is the water? That is the question the government ought to answer.
Asquith Rose and Harish Singh