GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — A seven-member team from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has arrived here to carry out several studies on drainage in the capital, Georgetown.

A Government statement said that the team will be offering its recommendations to the Government on additional measures that can assist with the situation.

Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, speaking at a ceremony welcoming the team, said Guyana’s drainage system has been operating on historic knowledge.

“This approach has worked fairly well in the past however, it was unscientific and was prone to human errors. This approach makes our system unsafe as well as inefficient. While we value the experience of our staff, we believe that modernisation is very vital in order for us to improve our drainage system,” Patterson said.

Agriculture Minister Noel Holder encouraged the Guyanese engineers who will be working with the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) team to make the most of the opportunity to build their knowledge base on hydraulic drainage models so that they can be trailblazers in this field and be able to replicate the knowledge gathered.

“Water management is a critical area of focus for the Ministry of Agriculture, since most of our agriculture is practiced in the low-lying area of several regions of the country.

“The effects of proper drainage have positive impacts from an agricultural perspective; some of these include salinity control, flooding, crop yields, soil erosion and water supply, among others.

“While we utilise natural drainage systems, these channels are not sufficient. Improved drainage methods and systems are necessary, thus, this initiative and the work of the National Task Force is timely and necessary for the socio-economic growth and well-being of the people of Georgetown and the country as a whole.” Holder said.

The DRR team that visited Guyana in November 2015 reported that Guyana’s response to flood-related problems have often been reactive after a crisis has occurred and as a result, suggested that Guyana adopt a more proactive approach by shifting to more long-term planning in the construction and maintenance of the drainage infrastructure and to upgrade our hydraulic modelling capabilities.

Chief executive officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Fredrick Flatts, said one of the recommendations made by the team was remodelling of the drainage catchment “in order to make the different levels of rainfall predictable”.

Head of the Civil Engineer Department of the University of Guyana, Maxwell Jackson, said the university is being viewed as the sustainable area of this exercise.

“At least I’m advocating that, because our student body and our academic staff would be able to continue to enhance the model, to keep it going, to test it as it prolongs because the model would have to be monitored, data would have to be added.

“So, as regards to continuity and the sustainability of this exercise, we at the University of Guyana will be taking this challenge up.” Jackson said.