Kpong Water Treatment Plant shuts down
To minimise the impact of the planned shutdown of the Kpong Water Treatment Plant, the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has put together a number of measures to provide water to affected communities during the four-day exercise.
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In the main, water will be transferred from the Weija Treatment Plant to the Accra Terminal Reservoir and booster stations to be supplied to the areas that would be affected during the period.
The Kpong Water Treatment Plant will be shut down from today to Sunday, March 2, 2014.
Meanwhile, the GWCL has mobilised its water tankers and hired additional ones from private entities to provide water to the affected communities during the shutdown.
To ensure a regular source of water supply to the tankers, the GWCL will also store water in the Tema Terminal Reservoirs at Ashaiman to serve sensitive institutions such as hospitals and schools by tanker services.
The Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda, yesterday visited the GWCL office, near the Flag Staff House in Accra, to familiarise himself with the preparations
He expressed satisfaction with the preparations made by the GWCL so far, prior to the shutdown to avoid an acute water shortage in the Accra-Tema metropolis during those four days.
Alhaji Dauda urged the GWCL to ensure the efficient implementation of the measures to avoid creating unnecessary inconveniences for consumers.
Affected Areas
For the duration of the shutdown, there would be interruption in water supply to Tema, Ashaiman, Lashibi, Michel Camp, Afienya, Prampram Ningo, Somanya, Dodowa and the Akuapem Ridge areas.
Other areas to be affected include Adentan, Madina, Ashalley-Botwe, Adjiringano, East Legon, Legon, Ashongman, Kwabenya, Taifa, Dome, Achimota and its surroundings, Abelemkpe, Dzorwulu, Roman Ridge and the Airport Residential Area.
The rest are 37, Kanda, Nima, Maamobi, Pig Farm, Kotobabi, Kokomlemle, Cantonments, Ridge, Osu, La, Labone, Burma Camp, Teshie, Nungua, Baatsona, Spintex Road and its surroundings.
Alhaji Dauda called on energy producers and distributors to ensure consistent power supply, especially to Weija, during the four days that the Kpong Water Treatment Plant would be shut down.
He said this was necessary because the whole of the Accra-Tema metropolis would depend on the Weija Water Treatment Plant for those four days.
Why the shutdown
The shutdown of the Kpong Water Plant has become necessary because its distribution lines, constructed as far back as 1965, need replacement.
Alhaji Dauda said the demand for water in the Tema and Accra metropolis had become so high that the pipes had to be replaced to avoid the breakdown of the lines as a result of undue water pressure.
He explained that the planned shutdown was to allow contractors executing the Kpong Intake and Accra-Tema Metropolitan Assembly Rural Rehabilitation and Expansion Project to undertake critical pipeline interconnection.
The acting Managing Director of the GWCL, Mr Kwaku Dovlo, said the GWCL had instituted a Call Control Centre to facilitate the effective distribution of water.
“Assembly members and opinion leaders can call the centre to make a request and then a water tanker will be dispatched to supply the water immediately,” he added.
He, however, advised residents in the affected communities to store enough water for the period.