Nana Yaw Barima-Barnie, Western Regional Communication Manager of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has said that water has now become a scarce commodity in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis and for that matter people should use water judiciously.
He also advised the public against the use of treated water for the watering of lawns, gardens as well as the washing of vehicles and the general misuse of water.
This caution was as a result of an acute water shortage in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis (STMA) and the Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipality (EKMA) of the Western Region for the past one month.
He attributed the water shortage to the low level of water in the Inchaban Dam and the Daboase river which are the main sources of raw water to the treatment plant due to the dry season, hence the rationing of water in the Metropolis.
“Usually during the dry season the raw water source goes down because it does not rain and there is no fresh water into the river basin at Daboase which is processed at the Dam site at Inchaban, so day-by-day the levels go down. When the level goes down we are not able to abstract enough water as needed if it was in the rainy season where there was so much water”, he emphasized.
He noted that water rationing has been often in the region because the region was growing making the demand of water so high while the amount of water they produce sometimes doesn’t meet the needed demand.
He expressed the hope that the situation would be improved when the expansion of the Sekondi-Takoradi water supply project is completed to provide over 22 million tonnes of water to the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis alone.
Spice News has gathered that the unexpected situation has left many to rely on boreholes and other unhygienic sources of water, a situation which could result in the outbreak of water-borne diseases.
When asked how long it would take to see water flowing through the taps, the Communication Manager said, “not until there is water in the river basin” and appealed to residents to remain calm as the company worked tirelessly to provide and share the little water available to salvage the situation.
Story: Seth Ameyaw Danquah
