The rural areas of Guyana historically experienced a serious problem in accessing water for domestic use. Few rural households had pipes and access to safely managed drinking water. Few homes had pipe borne water. Water was always scarce for use in cooking, washing, cleaning, drinking, and for farming and the animals; people depended on rain for usable water. State supplied water source for most rural people lied outside household premises and so households had to collect and save water. Many people commuted long distance for potable water. There were often long queues. Hours were lost collecting water. Youngsters like me wasted hours morning and afternoon fetching water, reducing time for studying and socializing with peers.
Water collection was considered as a gendered activity, with the time burden of collecting water inevitably falling on women and girls of the household although some young boys, like myself and male friends, also assisted with fetching water. Water supply lasted briefly and so females had to be ready to collect water when available. There was no guaranteed water supply. Females made many trips daily to fill one 40 gallons barrel which was needed daily for use by the family. Females undertook such time-consuming efforts every day to ensure their families have water. Limited access to basic resources like water, fuel, electricity, and modern household appliances led to a life of misery.
Water insecurity affected women’s everyday lives – their education, recreation, socialization, meal preparation, and household chores. It also affected school attendance and academic performance of girls; females were taken out of schools for house chores including fetching water. Not surprisingly, lack of access to water caused considerable stress among adult females in household dynamics. It had an adverse impact on their mental health as they constantly worried about accessing water. There was a multitude of other effects on women including on menstrual health and violence when water was not available for males in the household. A life of drudgery did not end there. The older females also had to spend hours securing fuel and provide caregiving and prepare the meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) — gendered responsibilities in patriarchal Guyana that shackled older females to the home and when free to hustle income to supplement that of the male (s). It was a daily, repetitive task out of no choice owing to socio-cultural norms.
Females historically played a very important role in making available water for domestic use. Fetching water became a daily burdensome chore for rural females. They were responsible for guaranteeing water was available in the home. In patriarchal Guyana, the male went to work and the women were responsible for the affairs of the home. The role of women in providing water for domestic use and even in farming and providing for the animals became very critical after gained independence in 1966 especially during the difficult years of the dictatorship when water was not a precious commodity and very scarce, not easily accessible.
After Guyana gained its independence in 1966, during the late 1960s thru 1990s, rural areas experienced serious shortage of potable (drinking) water. Most rural dwellers didn’t have pipe in their homes and as such did not have access to pipe borne water. People collecting rain water from their roof. Water was stored in oil drums. Fresh water was available was from public wells. Because water was not available continuously as in the developed countries, people stored water in drums or cylinders. Water for washing and even bathing was from rivers or ponds or trenches. People were exposed to diseases like diarrhoea, typhoid and cholera using soiled water.
Water was also collected in buckets from wells dug several feet below the earth connected to a main line and then transferred by buckets to barrels or cylinders. Wells were in people’s yard or a neighbor’s yard. Neighbors assisted each other to obtain water from those wells. There were also public wells and overhead gigantic storage tanks. But the wells did not always have water. Sometimes water was available a couple hours a day when the pipe of huge overhead vaults (tanks) storing water was opened. It was opened a couple hours daily and sometimes for days the vaults were shut off. A motorized pump was needed to pump the water upwards into the tank for the water flow down. Very often the pump was turned off for lack of fuel or simply broken and awaiting to be fixed. Days or weeks would pass without availability of potable water in a village; people scrambled for water. Most of the water especially after the oil cris of 1973, it was difficult to access drinking water. People depended on rain. And when there was no rain, they fetched water from public oil wells or from neighbors who had large storage tanks.
There were geographical disparities in household access to safe water based on political affiliation. Villages supportive of the African based PNC received favorable treatment for water and electricity. They had almost non-stop flow of potable water. Urban areas received preference over rural areas. PPP supported villages had restricted flow of pipe borne water.
Females of all ages bore the brunt of making water available for the home. They had to carry water on their head and their hand. A similar situation of water limitation also existed in Trinidad, but water was more accessible in Trinidad than in Guyana. Several villages in Trinidad still experience problems in obtaining potable water.
Just a few years after the colonial British handed over the former colony to the local rulers, pipes ran dry. The villages, indeed most of Guyana, during the colonial era, depended on rain water for cooking, drinking, and washing (clothing and utensils). With shortage of clean water, people turned to soiled water from contaminated trenches and canals to wash clothing and utensils. The water was often contaminated with dead animals and fish and muddy brown. To access water for drinking, cooking, and washing white clothing, they trekked a long distance, often exceeding a mile, with buckets (on head and or in hands) to fetch water that was stored in barrels. Some bought water transported from miles away in barrels atop tractors and donkey or horse carts that was transferred via buckets into stationary barrels in peoples’ homes or yards. Like many others, this writer fetched water daily walking about a mile, a gallon bucket in each hand, for home use and gardening and for animals while living in Ankerville, in Port Mourant. Others did same in throughout the rural villages. In contrast to rural areas, urban areas for the most part had running pip borne water into their homes (kitchen and bathroom). But at times, they also experienced shortages. Many urban dwellers collected rain water in barrels as a backup when the pipes went dry as they often did especially during the 1970s and 1980s.
After the restoration of democracy in 1992, under Dr Cheddi Jagan’s tenure, Guyana began to make remarkable progress in expanding household access to water. Since then, water accessibility has increased. The government has done great work in ensuring the delivery of safe water to an increasing number of villages including in the hinterland. Water availability has spread to almost every village as well as the hinterland regions in Guyana. People don’t have to go to off-premises to fetch water. Females were not as burdened to fetch water as they did during the 1970s and 1980s. From the 1990s onwards, there has been greater access to drinking water through household tap connections. Girls become free from having to fetch water for household chores. Accessibility to water in the home reduces the drudgery of females. They now have more time for gainful activities and managing household tasks and childcare as well as in schooling of youngsters. More free time for females help to contribute to better physical and mental health and make it possible for their upward mobility.