Accra water situation worsens-Experts look for foreign help (Spread)

GHANA is seeking international assistance to rectify a major engineering defect which has severely affected water supply at the Weija Water Works and reduced daily production from 55 million gallons to 11 million.
The damage has virtually crippled the water supply situation in the national capital, with the western part of Accra being the most affected.
The need to seek foreign expertise has arisen because engineers of Aqua Vitens Rand, operators of the urban water systems in the country and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has not been able to find solutions to the damage.
Experts from the two institutions say the crisis has arisen because of damage to the electrical control panels that supply power to the pumps that draw raw water from the Densu River at the Weija Water Works for processing, reports Charles Benoni Okine.
Information gathered by Daily Graphic yesterday indicated that not even the local representatives of the South African company that sold the control panels to Ballast Nedam, the company that installed the panels, were able to repair the damaged panels.
“The local representatives of that company have now copied the serial numbers of the four panels and sent them to South Africa for the manufacturers to see what they can do about the damaged panels,” a source said.
The source said considering the severity of the problem, an option to consider should the next move fail would be the acquisition of new control panels that would take up to a month to import.
The other challenge would have to do with the procurement procedures as per the laws of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
The Managing Director of GWCL, Mr Mintah Aboagye told the Daily Graphic on Sunday that the fault developed on Thursday when one of the valves got burst, and indicated that the fault on the valve was rectified, reports Musa Yahaya Jafaru.
He said thereafter his outfit detected that three of the pumps could not pump water into the reservoirs.
Mr Mintah said initially, the GWCL blamed the situation on low power voltage.
Therefore, he said, his outfit contacted the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to come and improve the electricity supply.
He said the ECG technical officers came to work on the electricity supply on Saturday, but still the pumps could not pump the water.
Mr Mintah said it was then that the technical officers detected that the fault was in the panels as they could not supply enough power to activate the pumps.
He said the technical officers could not fix the panels as they did not take part in the installation of the panels.
Mr Mintah said the only officer who took part in the installation was outside Accra, and said he was called to come and help rectify the situation.
He stated that the company had contacted the resident office of the contractors to come and assist in rectifying the fault.
Meanwhile, Mr Mintah said, the GWCL was working towards channelling water from Kpong into some reservoirs in Accra in order to ease the water situation in the city.
He assured the public that the company was working round the clock to rectify the fault and start full water supply.
Lucy Adoma Yeboah reports that residents at Sowutuom, Santa Maria and Kwashieman had to travel long distances carrying all manner of containers in search of water.
The water situation in those areas, which has always been problematic, seemed to be worse over the few past days.
Residents, mostly women and children, were seen in the neighbourhood with yellow containers, commonly refereed to as “Kufuor gallons”, trying to fetch water from streams, wells and even gutters in the neighbourhood.
A resident of Sowutuom, Ms Afia Mainoo, said instead of the weekly supply of water to the area, no water had passed through their taps for two weeks , a situation which she described as terrible.
In his report, Samuel Kyei-Boateng indicated that the acute water shortage which hit parts of the national capital from Thursday was creating serious hardships for residents.
The affected areas visited were Adabraka, Dansoman, Sukura, Russia, Mateheko, Sakaman, Mallam, Kanashie and Odorkor.
Residents were compelled to resort to fetching water from unhygienic sources such as shallow wells for the their activities, a situation which could lead to the outbreak of water-borne diseases.
The Daily Graphic was informed by some of the residents that water was sold between GH¢15 and GH¢20??? per 15-litre????? plastic container.
Due to the water crisis people are privileged to have water from boreholes or wells and one of such hand-dug wells at Adabraka Official Town is being patronised daily by more than 200 people who live in Abuja and Agbogbloshie, among other neighbourhoods who had to queue for the water.
Daily Graphic investigations revealed that some people also bought sachet water for their daily activities such as bathing, washing of clothes and for flushing their water-closet toilets.
Managers of some hotels in the affected areas confirmed in separate interviews that they bought purified water in large quantities for their guests for bathing and flushing of toilets.
Schoolchildren at Chorkor, Mamprobi and Osu have been affected by the acute water shortage in the Accra Metropolis, reports Henrietta Brocke.
As a result of the problem, some of them were unable to attend school yesterday.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the headmistress of the Socco Primary School at Mamprobi, Ms Esther Insaidoo, said out of 53 pupils in class six only 14 had reported at 8a.m. yesterday.
She added that in Basic One(Class One), out of the 35 pupils, only 15 reported, Class Two had 23 out of 48 and Primary Five 31 out of 56.
Asked whether there would be effective lessons, Ms Insaidoo answered in affirmative since other students were present.
The Assistant Headmistress of Mamprobi “1” Junior High School, Ms Vivian Abbey, said school was in progress, but noted that attendance was not encouraging.
The Regional Production Manager of the GWCL, Mr Michael Amuakwa, told the Daily Graphic that measures were being put in place to provide water for some important institutions such as Korle- Bu Teaching Hospital, the Castle and other state institutions.
He said due to the situation, girls schools in Accra could contact the Ghana Water Company Limited for assistance because of their peculiar situation.
Ayesha Dah reports that since Friday, residents of Kokomlemle, Caprice, Accra Newtown and others in the northern part Accra had experienced severe shortage of water, forcing residents to rely on any available water for use.
Residents in those areas were yesterday carrying gallons and jerry cans in search of water. Some of them were spotted fetching water from a gutter opposite the Nima Police Station.
A woman who identified herself only as Amaria told the Daily Graphic that although water did not usually run in Nima, the situation had worsened since the places residents usually went to for water in times of need were currently in the same predicament.
She said since there was no other source of water supply, the water from the gutter would be used for cooking, bathing and washing.
Matilda Attram reports that some residents who spoke to the Daily Graphic on the situation said they travelled all the way from Adabraka to Circle and Kanda to buy water for their activities.
A porridge seller at Kokomlemle, Aminatu Karim , told the Daily Graphic that the situation had slowed business since she had to travel to Kanda with her children every morning to fetch water before the preparation of her porridge.
"It has affected my business because I have to go and sell late in the morning," she said.
The situation at the Ridge Hospital yesterday morning was no better.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr George Acquaye, pointed out that the hospital already had a problem with water situation even at normal times when there was no water shortage in town.
He said the situation became worse when there was shortage of water in surrounding areas.
Dr Acquaye indicated that the hospital occasionally depended on Zoomlion Ghana Limited, GWCL and private water tankers for water for its operations.
He further indicated that at the time of Daily Graphic's visit to the hospital it had four out of eight reservoirs filled with water but added that the hospital could run out of water within a day or two.
Meanwhile the situation at the Adabraka Polyclinic, however, seemed normal as workers of the clinic told the Daily Graphic the clinic had no problem with water supply.
They further said the clinic's main tap was flowing yesterday morning and so water had been reserved for emergency purposes.