W/R: Ghana Water Company says inadequate freshwater affecting supplies

Nana Barima Barnie, the communications Manager of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in the Western Region, has acknowledged the current operational challenges in its business of supplying potable water to residents of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.

These challenges, he indicated, had risen from inadequate freshwater inflows into the Pra basin, which is the source of raw water for the Daboase Water Treatment Plant, the biggest Plant in the Region.

Also, the Anankware River, which supplied raw water to the Inchaban Water Treatment Plant, was equally facing its own freshwater inflow difficulties, he told the Ghana News Agency on Monday.

The company needed about 15 million gallons of water to serve consumers daily in the metropolis but currently does seven million resulting in water rationing.

The rationing was to ensure that the seven million gallons were distributed among the population to mitigate challenges.

The GWCL communications Manager said compounding the current problem at Daboase were the activities of illegal miners upstream of the River Pra, and thus causing severe siltation at the plant's intake point.

The high silt deposits had drastically reduced the volume of raw water available for abstraction coupled with the effect of the dry season.

He said the current situation was a bit disturbing and appealed to consumers who were most affected or were not getting water at all to bear with the company to find permanent solutions.

The company, he said, was carrying out expansion and reengineering works to add about 15 million gallons of water to the existing production levels, which would ultimately solve the potable water need of the Metropolis.

He said, “Management of the company recognises and shares in the pain of consumers and are now doing everything they can to ameliorate their suffering, including dredging the intake of Daboase Treatment Plan is also ongoing.”

GNA