Modern sewage treatment plant for Georgetown

Last Updated on Saturday, 22 July 2023, 17:30 by Denis Chabrol

The sewage discharge point at Mud Lot, Kingston, Georgetown on the east bank of the Demerara River.

Preparations are underway for the construction of a modern waste water treatment plant for Georgetown and bring an end to the dumping of that type of waste into the Demerara River and Atlantic sea, Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal said Saturday.

He said the US$36 million effluent treatment plant, which would probably be constructed in Kingston, would have a capacity of 20 megaliters per day (MLD) and would collect sewage from  up to Alexander Village and Kitty.

According to a strategic plan, construction of the effluent treatment facility is expected to begin in 2025.

Currently, sewage is also being discharged by tankers into the Atlantic sea and into the Demerara River at a koker at Upper Water Street and at Mud Lot nearer the mouth of the same river.

Addressing a news briefing to announce that the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) conference would be held in Guyana in October, 2023, the Housing and Water Minister said  the new effluent plant would see Guyana complying with the 1983 Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Area (known as the Cartagena Convention) and the 1999 Land-Based Protocol. “We are very close to completing negotiations for an investment programme that will see us constructing a new wastewater treatment plant,” he said.  Noting that waste water was “not being done in a clean manner” , he said the new waste water treatment plant would see Guyana “meeting our commitment to our regional partners.”

Parties to the Protocol are obligated to establish legally binding effluent limitations for domestic sewage, and the convention  requires participating countries to treat all domestic wastewater in their countries, so that effluent meets specified standards.