Church provides water for communities in Northern and Upper East Regions

Yendi, (NR), July 28, GNA- The Church of Christ Rural Water Development Project (RWDP) has provided 255 boreholes for some districts in Northern and Upper East Regions since its operations in the country 15 years ago. The beneficiary districts are Yendi, Zabzugu/Tatale, Nanumba, East Gonja, Saboba/Chereponi, Gushiegu/Karaga, Bawku East and the Tamale Metropolis.

Nii Nathaniel Adams, Project Director of RWDP announced this at the 15th anniversary celebration of the establishment of the project in Ghana at Yendi on Tuesday.

He said RWDP and the UNICEF had spent 2.7 billion cedis to drill 50 boreholes and rehabilitate 42 boreholes in Yendi, Zabzugu/Tatale, East Gonja, Nanumba and Saboba/Chereponi Districts.

Members of the church from five districts in the Northern Region, Accra, Nsawam and the United States, attended the anniversary, and prayed for peace especially in Dagbon, during and after the December elections.

Mr Adam noted that about 80 per cent of diseases pertaining in the area are contracted through contaminated water and bad sanitation. Mr Mohammed Habib Tijani, Yendi District Chief Executive said the district assemblies in the eastern part of the Northern Region would support the Project to provide potable water to the people and improve their living standards.

In a speech read for him, Mr Tijani pledged the government's commitment to provide 90 per cent of Ghanaians with potable water by the year 2010 to reduce water borne diseases in the communities.

Brother Josiah Tilton, Director of Ghana/West African Mission of the Church said in 1989, there were about 179,550 reported cases of guinea worm in Ghana and this had reduced to 5,473 cases as at 1998.

He expressed the hope that with the provision of potable water to the communities, the disease would eventually be eradicated.

He said since the inception of the RWDP operations in Ghana, nearly 300 boreholes had been provided for more than three million people in the country.

Brother Tilton announced that the Church has trained community-based hygiene volunteers to promote good sanitation in the communities.