Nadowli District rural water coverage higher than MDGs target

Nadowli, UWR, April 14, GNA - There are 275 boreholes fitted with hand pumps and four piped water systems serving 143 communities in the Nadowli District. This gives the district rural water coverage of 80.04 per cent as at the end of 2010, higher than the 76 per cent Millennium Development Goals' target.

Mr. Sampson Atakora, an Engineer at the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, announced this at the Nadowli District launch of the Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project at Nadowli on Wednesday.

The World Bank is funding the project with 75 million dollars to help improve rural water supply and sanitation systems in the communities. Mr. Atakora said the project would provide 40 boreholes fitted with hand pumps to communities that did not have adequate water supply and those that had high incidence of water-borne diseases. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) would supply eight communities and four schools in the district with potable water and sanitation facilities.

Government would also provide 16 boreholes to 15 communities under its Priority Rural Water Project. Mr. Atakora said while rural water supply coverage was commendable, sanitation remained below 10 per cent and unlikely to achieve the Millennium Development Goals target of 54 per cent coverage by 2015. Mr. Abu Kasanbata, Nadowli District Chief Executive, said the project would not only provide potable water to the people but would also help improve the behaviour and practices relating to sanitation management in the communities. He appealed to beneficiary communities to embrace the project and improve access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services.

He said the district has a population of 94,000 people and that if care was not taken its population was likely to outrun water and sanitation facilities and cause major outbreaks of cholera and other diseases.

Mr. Kasanbata said the district assembly was collaborating with District Assemblies Common Fund Secretariat and the two members of Parliament to drill additional 29 new boreholes and rehabilitated 20 old ones to augment the existing boreholes. He commended non-governmental organisation such as the World Vision Ghana, Global Water Initiative, Catholic Relief Services and Pro-net North as well as Adventist Relief Development Agency for supporting the assembly in the provision of water and other social amenities for the people. 14 April 11