Water Company to Improve Services

Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has announced a set of measures to improve the supply of water in the country, particularly in parts of the Accra- Tema metropolis and the regional capitals.

The company's plans are to bridge the gap that exists between the required demand and what is being produced.

Briefing the media in Accra last week, the Acting Managing Director of GWCL, Mr. Jonathan Nunu said the company is not able to supply water effectively because of several problems including illegal connections, leakages, and obsolete machinery.

The company is undertaking rehabilitation and expansion work at Weija, which is scheduled for completion by September this year to improve water supply. When completed, the Weija water treatment plant would produce about 22 million gallons of water per day to meet the needs of customers in Accra West.

Mr. Nunu said there was an urgent need to expand the operations of the Kpong treatment plant to be able to meet the shortfall, and that would require an amount of $400 million over the next five years.

The Managing Director said although there had been a massive water sector rehabilitation programme between 1987 to 1990, only 33% of the water systems of the company were in good condition.

He said because the company was unable to meet the required demand for water, it has instituted a rationing programme that it was fine-tuning. That, he said, means that they would reduce flows to certain areas for other areas to receive some service.

Mr. Nunu said GWCL had granted amnesty to all consumers who illegally connected water, and urged them to be officially connected or face the law if found.

The Managing Director said management of the company deplores the activities of car washing bay operators who use treated water for washing cars and has therefore placed a temporary ban on new connections to such businesses.

He said the company would also embarked on a mass disconnection exercise of all vehicle-washing bays which do not have Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) certificates and a permit from the Accra Metropolitan Authority and the Department of Town and Country Planning.

The water chief said a new customer service section has been introduced and contracts were being signed with private collectors. Within the next four weeks the company's new strategies would begin to bear fruit, he said.