About 30% of groundwater in Ghana is contaminated with minerals — CWSA 

The Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) says at least 30 per cent of groundwater in the country contains iron, manganese, fluoride, arsenic, and hardness.

Those contaminants in drinking water could pose serious health hazards including impotency in men if not properly treated before consumption.

Additionally, surface water sources have deteriorated because of unapproved human activities in most river basins, particularly illegal small-scale mining.

Dr Worlanyo Kwadjo Siabe, the Chief Executive Officer of CWSA, made the disclosure at the Minister’s news briefing in Accra, on Wednesday.

In view of that, he said, the CWSA had procured a packaged water treatment plant to treat water containing such minerals in communities it had constructed boreholes for them to safeguard the health of the people.

The Agency spent GHS 35 million annually for treating such contaminants present in water, he said.

The briefing focused on sustainable rural and small towns’ water sources through policy reforms.

Dr Siabe said the Agency was managing 1,924 water systems in 169 districts across the 16 regions with 62.63 per cent water coverage as of 2022.

The 62.63% water coverage comprised water services provided by CWSA, MMDAs, NGOs and religious bodies under CWSA’s supervision.

The Government, through the Ministry of Finance, has provided GHS 486 million in funding since 2017 to date towards the Agency’s infrastructure development.

The Agency had also provided GHS 196 million in funding through its internally generated funds to complement the government’s efforts, Dr Siabe stated.

The CWSA, he said, as of 2022, lost 36 per cent of water processed to theft.

Under the Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project financed through a $41.5 million IDA/World Bank loan, Dr Siabe said, 11 regions benefited from various water system facilities and household toilets.

For instance, he said, 21,776 household toilets were provided for communities in 11 regions and 568 institutional toilets were provided in 224 basic schools.

Dr Siabe mentioned frequent breakdowns long downtime of water systems and high revenue unaccounted for as some of its challenges.

He believed that if the Agency gets about GHS 200 million in support from the government and other development partners, it could address most of its challenges going forward.

GNA