CWSA undergoes reforms to increase water coverage and access

Divine Dugbatey, Volta Regional Director, Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) has said his outfit was undertaking reforms to increase potable water coverage and access.

He said through an Austrian government credit facility of € 11.5 million for the phase three of the Strabag project, which will distribute water from Adidome to Adaklu Waya through 18 communities to service about 60,000 people was nearing completion.

Mr Dugbatey disclosed this during a joint CWSA and Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) staff durbar, when Dr Archibald Letsa, Volta Regional Minister paid a working visit to the two companies to familiarise with them in Ho.

He said another pipeline project involving Government of Ghana, acting through the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources and Aqua Africa Limited worth €30 million facility from the UK Exim Bank, under the Rural Communities and Small Towns Water Supply project was being finalised.

Mr Dugbartey said it was estimated that the project would serve about 282,000 people in the Volta, Ashanti, Greater Accra and Eastern regions.

The Regional Director said the region was doing about 63.1 per cent coverage, while the Sustainable Development Goal Six required a 100 per cent, and assured that the two water companies would work hard to attain the target.

He said the community ownership and management of water systems -rationale for the mandate of the CWSA in 1998, had failed and that its reforms would promote efficiency and professionalism to leverage revenue.

Mr John Eric Kwofie, Regional Production Manager, GWCL, said Ho needed 7.5 million gallons of water a day, but the Company produces only 2.5 million gallons a day, resulting in forced rationing of water in the Volta regional capital.

He said the Company was re-activating the mechanization of two boreholes on the Kabakaba Hill to shore up supplies and attributed shortage of water in Ho in recent times to dysfunctional transformer, which he said had been fixed.

Mr Kwofie said plans were underway to expand the Kpeve Headworks plant to produce 20 million gallons per day from the current four million gallons production.

Dr Archibald Letsa, the Regional Minister assured the two companies of government's commitment and support towards the achievement of "Water for All" programme to supply the commodity to all Ghanaians.

He encouraged workers of CWSA and GWCL to work together to protect revenue leakages as colossal amounts of money was being used in the production of water.

"All must play their roles and support the government to actualize the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda as Ghana is the only country we have, " Dr Letsa said.

The Minister called for a change in the narrative with substantial supply of potable water and stated government's commitment to finding funding outlays to finance water projects while the technical capacity of the companies remained solid.

His entourage included Reverend Johnson Avuletey, Deputy Volta Regional Minister and Mr Pius Hadzide, Deputy Information Minister.