Accra’s water problems end August

The Minister of Water Resources, Works & Housing, Collins Dauda, says water rationing in Accra and Tema will come to an end in mid-August.

The rationing of water began in January, this year when five out of 12 filters at Weija Water treatment Plant had serious defects leading to loss of gallons of water. According to the minister, all the 12 filters, with capacity to pump 42 million gallons of water, are expected to start full production in August.

He stated that two out of the five filters that broke down had been fixed. Speaking during a working visit to the Weija Water Treatment Plant to inspect the progress of work, Alhaji Dauda said additional seven million gallons of water would be brought on stream once the repair works are all completed.

“Work plan for the completion of repairs is three and half months. Therefore if we are able to keep to that time, which I am sure we will be able to, then by the end of August, all the filters at this treatment plant will be able to provide water for the people of Accra and Tema.”

Alhaji Dauda disclosed that the total cost for the reconstruction was about €600,000.00 and expressed the hope that after completion those around the catchment areas would gain access to water.

He said government was not happy with the water situation and would not stop at anything until the problem is fixed. “In a country that you have development ahead of planning, demand for water supply will always exceed supply because we don’t take the pain to plan our residential areas before building our houses.”

He said that for the water problem to be resolved totally there was the need for attitudinal change. Alhaji Dauda said currently government had partnered a Chinese company to produce 80 million gallons of water at Kpong Treatment Plant, adding that the project is in two phases and phase one would produce 20 million gallons of water. “We hope that if such things come on board, we will be solving most of our water problems,” he added.

Additionally, he said government would come out with a project to change all old pipelines laid since 1925 to ensure very strong distribution water systems.