Ketu North: Severe water crisis hits Dzodze; residents cry for gov’t intervention

Residents of Dzodze in the Ketu North Municipality in the Volta Region are facing severe water crisis with no drop of water from their taps in several households for months.

According to Christopher Kankpetinge who is a resident of Dzodze, many parts of the Municipality has experienced erratic or no water supply for close to a year.

Unfortunately, the situation particularly got worse during the COVID-19 free water period. Now in May 2021, things are now out of hand with no drop of water for several months in many households.

Before the crisis, residents had water supply from the Dzodze Community Water Board. The board claim they are currently unable to supply water to residents in the municipality due to the failure of the government to reimburse them for the COVID-19 free water they provided.

Information from unofficial sources of the Municipal Assembly is that, the Community Water Board refused an audit of their accounts hence the Assembly's refusal to pay them for the free COVID-19 water.

With residents suffering the consequences of what appears to be a standoff between the Dzodze Community Water Board and the Municipal Assembly, they are calling on the Ministry of Water Resources to intervene.

“We the Citizens of Dzodze therefore want to make a passionate appeal to the Government of Ghana especially the Minister of Water Resources and Work Housing to intervene as a matter of urgency to solve the impasse between the Assembly and the Community Water Board to save us from this problem,” Christopher Kankpetinge who spoke exclusively to Modernghana News said.

The concerned resident of Dzodze added, “Buying water at exorbitant prices is putting a lot of financial burden on us the little our resources.”

Meanwhile, in the midst of the impasses between the Dzodze Community Water Board and the Municipal Assembly, the former has decided to share the accumulated bill of the free water to all the households in Dzodze to pay.

Every household [including those that have never had water] has been served with the bill ranging from GHS500 to GHS3000 according to information gathered.

There is currently an outlet in the Municipality where water flows daily with the owners taking advantage to milk residents.

Water is sold to tricycles operators at GHS0.20 per "Kuffour gallon" who in turn sell it to households at GHS1.00 to GHS3.50 per gallon.