12% of W/R population lack safe water

A research on rural water utilitisation in the Western Region in 2022 revealed that, 12 per cent of the popula­tion were underserved from safe or limited water supply systems.

Meanwhile, 88 per cent making 1,804,345 from the over two million population, had access to either a hand pump or a pipe system.

Again, out of the 999 pipe schemes, 887 were manned by either communities or private entities, the research stated.

The Rural Water Utilitisation Project (R- WUP) funded by the Conrad Hilton Foundation, in August 2022, was to support the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) in its growth as a professionalised public utility in the country.

It was also to aid CWSA to play a stronger regulatory advisory role in reforms in rural water supply.

The Ghana Statistical Service provided the right expertise in mapping data on water infra­structure and services in the 14 districts of the Western Region to identify service delivery models for rural water service delivery.

It also sought to develop a da­tabase framework for collection, analysis, and updating informa­tion for the rural and small-town water sub-sector.

The study further revealed that, over the years, nine out of every 10 hand pumps were either private, community, institutions and some with no management team at all.

Overall, the Western Region has 50 per cent mechanised, 20 per cent hand pumps, 30 per cent pipe schemes.

Speaking at a dissemination workshop on state of water services at Sekondi yesterday, Director and Head, Planning and Investment of the CWSA, Mr Mohammed Brahim Adokor, said limited mechanised systems accounted for 90 per cent in 12 districts.

Seventy-one per cent of all water systems were also over 10 years old.

The situation had resulted in numerous breakdowns mainly as a result of poor maintenance, he said.

According to Mr Adokor, issues of non-maintenance were prevalent in Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), Effia Kwesimintsim Municipal Assembly (EKMA) and Wassa Amenfi Central.

About 802 hand pumps were discovered to be non-functional, he said.

Also, water quality and testing mechanisms needed some signif­icant improvement for healthy living at most facilities particularly ones provided by associations and businesses, adding that, 40 per cent of these were tested at the time of construction.

Mr Adokor said “Activities of private drillers was also a key factor in the area of quality. The greatest challenge affecting quality, availability of supply and functionality was that most communities had often paid little or nothing at all for the usage of rural water systems and thus putting a huge financial burden on the government.”

Western Regional Director of the CWSA, Mr Henry Franklin Asangbah, thanked the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for supporting the agency in its growth, as the leading public sector entity in Ru­ral Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

He said, in 2017, CWSA initi­ated a policy reform to expand its mandate to include the manage­ment of piped-water systems in rural areas, and thus, in effect be­came a rural utility organisation.

Country Director of IRC Ghana, Mrs Vida Duti, said the development of CWSA’s internal organisational change manage­ment process was to drive the transition towards becoming a rural utility.