Accra, Tema to face water rationing
Residents in many parts of Accra and Tema would have to live with a water rationing exercise being undertaken by the Ghana Urban Water Limited (GUWL) for the next six months.
Advertisement
The exercise, according to the service provider, has become necessary, following a detection of a structural defect in four out of the 12 filters at the Weija Treatment Plant.
“The challenge is technical and it’s as a result of structural defects detected in four out of 12 filters at the Weija Treatment Plant about two weeks ago.
The defect, according to the Communications Manager at the GUWL, Mr Stanley Martey, required a complete redesigning and reconstruction of the four filters, an exercise which would to take about six months to complete.
Communities in western, eastern, and central parts of Accra as well as those in the Tema metropolitan area have been affected by the breakdown of the four filters.
The damage to the filters is now being assessed by engineers of the Ghana Water Company and specialist contractors in water treatment plant design and construction.
Water filters remove impurities from water by means of fine physical barrier, a chemical process or a biological process.
The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) produces water while the GUWL, which is a subsidiary of the GWCL, manages the water.
Speaking in an interview, Mr Martey indicated that the breakdown of the filters had resulted in a shortfall of 20 per cent of water production, representing 10 million gallons of water produced daily.
Residents in the affected areas had earlier suffered severe water shortage, some for as long as three weeks, a situation which compelled families to travel miles in search of the basic commodity as their taps remained dry.
Mr Martey explained that the company “is aware of the irregular water situation being experienced in those parts of the city and our engineers are working around the clock to rectify the situation and to improve on water flow”.
He further explained that the shutting down of the filters was necessary as anything short of that would have meant compromising on the quality of water that would have been treated and distributed to consumers.
Story by Naa Lamiley Bentil
