Water consumers urged to report illegal connections

Accra, Aug. 20, GNA - Mr Frank Asiedu, Regional District Manager of Aqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL) for Accra West District, has appealed to water consumers to be extra vigilant and expose those who engage in illegal connections in the water distribution system by reporting them to the appropriate authorities. "Illegal connections deprive the rightful consumer from getting regular supply of water so I entreat you to be vigilant and play the role of a community watch dog and report illegal connections to us for prompt action to be taken against them," he said.

Mr Asiedu was speaking at a consultative forum on water management and supply organized by AVRL for residents of New Fadama in the Greater Accra Region. He said the numerous leakages that had confronted the water distribution system were caused by illegal connections. "Some of the plumbers who are contracted to do the illegal connections are not so good at the job and they end up diverting the water to wrong areas thereby leading to burst pipes and leakages." He said AVRL was preparing a leakage survey team who would be identifying leakages in the water distribution system and solving them.

Mr Asiedu said the water distribution system must be extended in order to increase production by the Weija Treatment Plant from 60 million gallons to 120 million a day. "Every treatment plant has a capacity it can produce so until the production is doubled, we sometimes have to ration water so those who get access to water four times a week are very lucky." Mr Asiedu said the main objective of the urban water programme was to increase access to piped water and to restore the financial stability of the water sector. He said balancing delivery of contractual targets with broader social responsibilities, challenging poor and corrupt internal practices and external anti-social practice, winning public confidence in the light of the limited role in improving services and helping anti privatization lobbies to understand their development role were some of the challenges facing AVRL.

Mr Asiedu said AVRL and Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) had been developing and implementing a radical reorganization of the utility's operations in order to make the company more customer and commercially focused as well as introducing greater accountability at all levels and eradicating financial malfeasance. Nana Yaw Brima Barnie, AVRL Communications Manager in the Greater Accra Region, advised water consumers to channel their grievances through the Customer Care Unit for prompt response. Mr. Iddrisu Abdul Latif, Ghana's representative in the Pan-African Youth Parliament, urged AVRL to avoid mediocrity in operating the water distribution system in order to win the confidence of the citizenry.