About 99,000 people are expected to enjoy three months’ free supply of water through Saha Global’s Emergency Coronavirus Water Fund.
The gesture is to ensure that rural dwellers in the region have access to clean water for handwashing, drinking and other domestic uses as part of efforts to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.
Water remains a crucial element in the fight against the disease as people are required to wash their hands regularly and ensure proper sanitation and good personal hygiene.
In the five regions of the north, majority of the people in rural communities rely on man-made dugouts, which are often contaminated, as their only source of water, which leaves them at risk of waterborne diseases.
Amidst a global pandemic such as COVID-19, rural dwellers stand a greater risk of infection due to challenges such as lack of access to potable water.
Saha Global will, therefore, train about 700 women in 227 communities to operate various water treatment centres in the Northern and Savannah regions to provide free clean water for a total population of about 99,000 people.
The free water supply project is to run from June, July and August.
The Director of Ghana Operations for Saha Global, Theo Boateng, stated that “after the government’s announcement on providing three months of free water to all Ghanaians, we had discussions with executives from the district assemblies, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation,(CONIWAS), and we all agreed that CSOs and NGOs will have to augment the government’s efforts to ensure that Ghanaians, including those living in faraway rural communities and not connected to the national water pipelines, also get access to three months of free clean water.”
“By setting up this emergency water fund, our goal, like that of the government, is to ensure that the best health and safety practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are followed and many lives saved. Rural dwellers in Saha’s partner communities will have access to clean water and good hygiene during this critical period.”
The trainees have also received education on social distancing, use of face masks and proper personal hygiene according to WHO protocols for prevention of COVID-19 infection.
Ahead of the training, Safe Storage Containers have been sent to the beneficiary communities.
