The Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday afternoon commissioned an $83M Hydromet water treatment and testing lab located in the Hydromet compound on Brickdam Georgetown.
The facility, which was under construction since 2017, was opened as part of the agriculture month activities. The lab will be responsible for establishing, managing and operating national systems to monitor the quality and use of Guyana’s water systems both private and state-owned.
Collecting and processing credible data on the quality of Guyana’s water resources will also be a key function of the lab.
Chief Hydromet officer Dr Garvin Cummings, during the commissioning ceremony, said that the construction of the facility came off the back of a vision to move away from the mediocre level of testing done previously and elevate Guyana’s water testing standards and practices.
“The vision was to start small, simple and uncomplicated but founded on solid principles for water quality testing where our results analysis and assessment can be used to inform local, regional and even trans boundary decision making in support of sound water resources management,” Said Dr Cummings.
Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder was also present at the commissioning and assisted in cutting the ceremonial ribbon said that Guyana has for years existed with no comprehensive entity or database for monitoring water systems and that the new facility is set up to fill this gap.
“The Hydromet facility will use the World Health organization’s standards for drinking water quality and safe use of wastewater as a basis for determining our water quality,” Minister Holder said.
The Hydromet service will soon commence work with local partners such as the Guyana Bureau of Standards to attain certification and accreditation to ensure that the results coming out of the lab are of the highest quality.
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Equipment that will be used in the Water Quality Testing Laboratory (DPI photo)
