[ 2019-03-09 ]

Water systems in 3 regions collapse
About 30 per cent of water systems in the Bono,
Bono East and Ahafo regions have collapsed because
of poor management by Community Ownership and
Management (COM) strategy teams tasked to manage
the systems, the Bono Regional Minister, Mr Evans
Opoku-Bobbie, has stated.

He said small town piped water systems at Mim and
Yeji in the Ahafo and Bono East regions
respectively had completely collapsed with no
water flowing through the pipes, while Wenchi and
Sampa in the Bono Region and Atebubu and Kwame
Danso in the Bono East Region, as well as Hwidiem
and Goaso in Ahafo Region were seriously
distressed.

Mr Opoku-Bobbie, who is also the caretaker
minister of the Bono East and Ahafo regions, made
this known in a speech read on his behalf at a
stakeholders' forum attended by officials from the
three regions on sub-sector reforms organised by
the Community Water Sanitation Agency (CWSA) in
Sunyani.

Reforms

The reforms are aimed at recruiting qualified and
knowledgeable personnel to help address challenges
threatening the sustainability of water supply to
communities and to protect the huge investments
made in the sub-sector by government and its
development partners.
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It is also aimed at transforming the CWSA into a
utility organisation for the provision and
management of small towns piped water supply
systems to provide reliable and affordable water
services to rural communities and small towns on a
sustainable basis.

The reforms have become necessary due to the
continuous cycle of breakdown and rehabilitation
of the various water systems and the wasting of
resources that should have been used to provide
water systems to other communities.

Also, many of the water systems cannot provide
uninterrupted services to communities as a result
of frequent breakdowns and poor accountability of
the revenue generated by the systems.

The forum focused on "Reforming Ghana's rural
water sub-sector towards efficient management of
Water, Santation and Hygiene (WASH) services to
rural communities and small towns."

CWSA

Mr Opoku-Bobbie said the introduction of CWSA in
the three regions had improved and increased rural
water coverage from 18 per cent in 1995 to 66.58
per cent in 2018, explaining that the huge
investment into the sector was expected to be
sustained through arrangements by the COMs.

“If the huge investments within the
sub-sector were to be well managed and sustained,
expansion and rehabilitation works would no longer
be a burden on government resources,” he
said.

Mr Opoku-Bobbie was of the view that the resources
should rather be channeled into achieving the
Sustainable Development Goal six (SDG 6), which
requires that all households in Ghana should have
access to safe water by 2030.

Management

A Chief Planning and Investment Analyst, Mr
Mohammed Ibrahim Adokor, said the agency, under
the reforms, would recruit professionals to manage
the facilities of CWSA across the country.

That, according to him, would help mobilise
revenue from water system management for
maintenance, expansion and construction of new
facilities to increase water access towards
meeting SDG 6.

Mr Adorkor indicated that the current management
model of the National Community Water and
Sanitation Programme (NCWSP) involved
non-professionals who were unable to operate and
manage the water supply systems.

Water losses

The Bono Regional Director of the agency, Engineer
Ahmed Ewura, said the CWSA in the region was
working hard to reduce water losses and breakdown
of systems through prompt responses and frequent
maintenance work.

He said rehabilitation and expansion of water to
some of the communities had begun, and mentioned
inadequate water production and supply, financial
difficulties in carrying out rehabilitation and
expansion works, customers’ reluctance to
pay water bills, and inadequate monitoring of the
systems as some of the challenges facing the
agency.

Source - Graphic

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