Parts of the Ningo Prampram Municipality have not had water supply for months compelling residents there to rely on untreated water from dugout ponds for their domestic use.
Residents there say water supply to the community has not been regular since December 2019 and is a major worry now as Ghana deals with the outbreak of COVID-19.
Some residents who spoke to Citi News, say appeals to the District office of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) over the erratic supply of water to their homes has not yielded any result and are thus calling on the authorities to come to their aid.
“The water crisis is unbearable; it is nothing to write home about. If you see the kind of water we are drinking here I think it is not the best, we need water, the opinion leaders of the country please work it out so that we can have running water in this season.”
“We started having problems in December and along the line, they opened the taps for a day or two and then get it closed again. Most households haven’t gotten water for almost three months. I did follow-ups with the Ghana Water Company Prampram District and the response I get from them is that the main pipeline from Kpong is burst but for how long will it take them to restore the pipelines because people are suffering. In this era of coronavirus that we have been asked to wash our hands under running water and there is no water running through the taps so where are we going to wash our hands? The kind of water being used by the community is so bad but that is what people are using to cook, wash and some are drinking it because they can’t afford to buy water.”
“We need water, and even the water we depend on is not enough for the town to use and it is also not good. There are some gems in it that can give bilharzia and other diseases.”
Commenting on the situation, the Tema Regional Communications Manager of Ghana Water Company Limited, Samson Ampah says they have had some challenges with the transmission lines from Kpong adding that interim measures have been put in place by the company to mitigate the situation.
“We had a challenge on the 24 inches transmission line that served Prampram and its environs and so while the engineers were attending to it management quickly put in alternative means to serve them; we had to divert some water from another line to serve them but the pressure in that line is very low so it is not able to reach those on the hilly areas.”
“Management also liaised with the Assembly members for the communities there and through that arrangement, we deployed about fifteen trips of water tankers to serve them as well whilst the engineers were attending to the challenge on the transmission line but fortunately, the engineers completed the job last night and so as we speak now they have completed the job but you know the line has been dry for some time now and so it will take a while for the pressures to build up in the system.”
“It is our expectation that by evening we will have water flowing to those on the low-lying areas and by tomorrow the lines should be fully charged so that our other customers can be served as well.”
We’re ready to meet increased water demand – GWCL
The Ghana Water Company Limited is confident it will be able to cater for Ghanaians as Ghana deals with the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, the Communications Director of GWCL, Stanley Martey, said although demand had increased, their management had “requested all regions to also up their production a bit.”
With this in mind, he also noted that the company didn’t “want waste in the system so we don’t want to overproduce. We only need to increase our production a bit. Demand has gone high so people will need more water so we’ll increase a bit so that we can meet the demand.”
In addition, Mr. Martey reiterated the company’s advice to some consumers to start storing water.
“In areas where there is irregular flow, we are requesting that customers store water if they are not storing and if they are already storing, they should increase their storage so they can resort to the storage in the event water is not flowing.”
Ultimately, he said parts of the country are okay “with the exception of Takoradi in the Western Region and then some parts of Greater Accra.”