Water Shortage Hits Takoradi

Some empty gallons surrounding a stand-pipe at Amanful

RESIDENTS OF the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis who have, in the past three weeks, been wandering with their gallons, buckets, rubber bowls and other containers in search of water as a result of the acute water shortage that has hit the area, are fuming with rage and describing the Atta Mills-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government as insensitive to the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian.

According to the aggrieved residents, the metropolitan authorities as well as government seemed not to bother about the difficulties they go through each day to get a bucket of water.

They explained that even though the city's authorities were aware of the water problem, neither the Ghana Water Company (GWC) nor the leadership of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) had come out publicly to give any explanation regarding the cause of the problem and when it would be rectified.

A visit by DAILY GUIDE to some communities within the metropolis revealed that residents wake up as early as 3.00 am and walk long distances with their receptacles in search of water.

Some of the communities the paper visited within the metropolis were Kwesimintsim, Tanokrom, Bankyease, Effiakuma, Apremdo, Amanful, Railway Quarters, Top Ten and the Takoradi Harbour Area where people had formed long queues with 'Kufuor' gallons in front of some stand-pipes, waiting for the water to flow.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that while some people got a bucket of water after a long struggle, others went home empty-handed, while most of the wells had gone dry.

“My brother, we are buying a bucket of dirty well water for GHp10, but that one is also in short supply, rendering many household dirty because water has no substitute,” a 50-year-old housewife remarked.

In an interview with DAILY GUIDE , a woman resident at Kwesimintsim wondered why the NDC government had come with a lot of bad omens including fire outbreaks, high cost of living, high rents, lorry fares and unbearable utility bills.

According to her, since the current NDC government took over, there was no single day the people said they were enjoying good standards of living as compared to the previous regime.

“If it is not gas shortage, it will be gasoline, kerosene or pre-mix fuel and now there is acute water shortage all over the metropolis, making life unbearable for all of us. Our children are going to school late and our husbands are also late for work everyday because they don't get water early to bath,” she stressed.

A young man at Takoradi Amanful, who mentioned his name only as Oluman, blatantly castigated the Atta Mills-led NDC government.

When this reporter informed Oluman that it was the responsibility of the GWC to make sure that water flows to the various homes, he maintained that since the government controlled the GWC, all the blame should be laid on the door step of the government.

Mark Teiko Codjoe, Production Manager of GWC, attributed the acute water shortage in the Twin-City to the fact that the Pra River at Daboase and the Anankwa River at Inchaban, which served as the sources of raw water supply in the metropolis, were drying up.

He said as a result, the GWC treatment plants at Daboase and Inchaban could no longer supply the stipulated quantity of water to consumers in the metropolis.

Mr. Codjoe, who conducted newsmen round the treatment plant and reservoirs at Daboase and Inchaban, said the Daboase Headworks which supplied about six million gallons of water from the Pra River to residents of Takoradi, now supplies four million gallons.

He intimated that the Inchaban Headworks, which supplied four million gallons of water everyday from the Anankwa River, now supplies only 500,000 gallons, adding that the situation had compelled the GWC to ration water in the metropolis.

On his part, Francis Agyei-Boateng, Western Regional Distribution Manager of GWC, said the problem would be resolved when the rains set in.

From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi