Georgetown 'river' to get relief
-Xavier orders outfalls cleaned
By George Gomes
Stabroek News
January 1, 2005
I actually like walking to work through several inches of water…This young lady was doing it with a smile on her face yesterday. (Lawrence Fanfair photo)
Georgetown took on the look of a river yesterday morning as drainage difficulties mounted, worrying citizens and city officials alike.
Minister of Public Works Anthony Xavier took an on-the-spot decision to have the outfalls cleaned and this work is to start in a week.
What would occur were rain to fall for an entire day, let alone several days? Is Georgetown's drainage system becoming obsolete? These are some of the questions residents pondered as they looked over their flooded homes and yards.
"I've received calls. Persons' yards that had not flooded in over 20 years are now complaining," Xavier said.
Xavier inspected the city's kokers and pumping stations yesterday along with officials from the City Council including Mayor Hamilton Green; Deputy Mayor Robert Williams; Town Clerk Beulah Williams; and Minister in the Ministry of Local Govern-ment and Regional Develop-ment, Clinton Collymore.
A watery variety… The flood yesterday added water if nothing else to this variety store on Regent Street. (Ken Moore photo)
"This is unusual, this may be more than a problem for only the council, we may need wider involvement," a worried Town Clerk said.
One Queenstown woman called this newspaper yesterday afternoon about her yard. "My yard is like a river. I called the council and they told me all the pumps and kokers are working, so what would happen if it start to rain again?" she asked.
The combination of rain and high tides, resulting in kokers closing and pumps being used to drain George-town is not new. "There is some other thing in the system," observed Xavier.
Chief City Engineer Cephas James may have provided some clues. He pointed out that the level of neglect of areas not drained directly into sluices could contribute. He also spoke of major culverts used to drain the city.
"There is a culvert right under Guyana Stores and one under the Georgetown Hospital that if flow is obstructed areas drained here will then build up and have to over flow into secondary canals," the engineer said.
James also referred to underground pipes in Main Street now blocked after all these years.
Collymore grilled the City Engineer saying he was not satisfied with the way he was handling the situation.
"Your department is under attack you have to respond." Collymore said the engineer should be more forthright.
The reckless dumping of garbage is also very tough on the city's drainage system.
"I admit that the drains need to be cleaned more often, and not just once a month," Xavier said. "Clogged drains are not being addressed in their totality. But no matter how much we clean and repair if persons continue to dump rubbish the problem will always be there."
There was general agreement among the touring party that important canals such as those along Lamaha Street, Avenue of the Republic, and Cowan Street are clean. But if drains are not flowing into them they become useless.
Apart from rubbish, there are problems at sluices that prevent maximum drainage.
At the Kitty pumping station, the two pumps work. However, the big one has to be turned off every two hours to cool. It cools off for an hour. James said the motor has been around since the sixties.
The small one gives off a pronounced grinding sound because it has a bad bearing.
In Kingston, at the big GRB koker and a smaller one next to it, Xavier made a decision to clean the outfalls. In his estimation, the water drains slower than it should.
As fate would have it, Stanislaus Jardine, who had been contracted to do the job before was passing and the minister called him. He agreed to jet-slurry the outfall and then wash it away using water from the Cowan Street Canal. This job will start in about a week. Jardine is to undertake the resuscitation of the Sussex Street koker as well.
An 18-inch pump adjacent to the big GRB koker which is placed just behind the smaller koker, and is used to drain water during high tide, may not be as effective as it should. A worker pointed out to the entourage that because the pump is so close to the koker it draws water from the ocean instead of from the canals it should be draining.
James said sluice doors are not functioning 100% and there is always a back-draft. The location of this pump's suction may be badly placed.
Over at Muneshwers, the koker's door does not open to its fullest. A five-tonne counter-weight used to open the koker reaches the ground before the door could be lifted completely out of the water. Even though there is drainage, this obstructs and creates turbulence at the sluice.
At the John Fernandes koker, a pump used during high tide is down; a damaged impeller is to be replaced. The ruined impeller was discovered yesterday.
At Liliendaal, both pumps are working, though one has a leak as a result of a bad shaft bearing. A major concern here is the blocking of the steel grills by waste which has to be cleaned off by a diver who has no suit or equipment. During his dive, both pumps cannot be on at the same time, as this hinders his attempts to remove the rubbish.
Bourda Market continues to suffer badly as a result of the flood. Losses could run into hundreds of thousands from over the Christmas weekend to yesterday. One rice stall owner had said his losses could be at around $40,000. "In more than ten years my stall never flood, and the Mayor says nothing, nothing," said another vendor yesterday.
Several Regent Street businesses remained in water up to yesterday afternoon, and several adjoining streets including Cummings and Albert were flooded.
A woman shopping in Bourda market told this newspaper that in West Ruimveldt the situation is no different. "The street (and) the gutter all is one. And they do the street just de other day. Everything is one," she said.
Several other city streets were under inches of water including South Road, lower Homestretch Avenue and Quamina and Thomas streets in Cummingsburg.