Managing Director of Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Dereck Hodson says the utility is paying $20M every month to GPL on account of water wasted by customers.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Hodson told the media that GWI now had to look for areas where it could cut back on its costs and one such area was to crack down on those who were wasteful.

GWI has recently launched such a campaign and inspectors will be visiting customers to inspect areas such as taps running continuously and defective taps and/or plumbing.

If inspections reveal that wastage is occurring in any of the areas, customers will be given a notice to effect repairs in five days. Failure to do so will result in that customer’s service being disconnected.

The campaign has begun in Georgetown and is expected to spread to other areas.

Public Relations Officer of GWI, Audreyanna Thomas noted that, according to international benchmark standards 130 litres of water should be consumed per person daily, however 700 litres were currently being consumed in Guyana, which is 5.5 times more.

As for the arrears with GPL, Hodson said the company had begun reducing pumping hours in a bid to cut costs.

He said this programme would be evaluated soon and a report on how much money the company was saving would be known. However, Hodson told the media that the reduction of pumping hours would definitely result in a reduction in their production cost and the electricity bill should go down.

Asked about the progress of their negotiations with GPL, Hodson said GWI was working on a financial plan and was close to reaching an agreement. According to Hodson, GWI was taken over by Severn Trent Water International as a bankrupt company and the situation could not change over night.

He urged the government to give its support, noting that until GWI could become a more financially viable agency, large inputs from the government would be required.