Livelihoods causing increasing water treatment cost in Ashanti Region of Ghana

story By Gifty Amofa,Kumasi

The cost of water production by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in Ashanti Region keeps increasing daily an official said here on Wednesday.
This is due to economic and social activities by people living in communities in the catchment areas of the major sources of raw water for treatment in the region.
Mr. Manuel Tetteh, Water Quality Assurance Officer of the GWCL in the region said farming activities, fishing and illegal lumbering constituted the major sources of pollution of the River Offing and other tributaries that feed into the Barekese Dam.
He disclosed these when a group Of Water, Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) sector players together with the Parliamentary Committee on Water Resources , Works and Housing, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), state actors and members of the Ghana Watsan Journalists Network (GWJN) embarked on a familiarization tour of the Barekese Dam and its catchment areas to learn at first-hand the nature of water production in the region.
The trip was part of a four-day workshop on WASH Governance organized by the West Africa (WA) WASH under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“The pollution compels the water company to keep increasing the volumes of chemicals used in purifying the water,” Mr. Tetteh said.
According to him, the slashing and burning of bushes annually for farming purposes around the catchment areas expose the water bodies to the vagaries of the sunshine, which affects the quality of the water.
Another factor is that with the burning of bushes, running water during rainfall transports the ashes directly into these water bodies. The running water also carries biocides (chemical fertilizers) used on farms into the water bodies, thus increasing the nutrient levels of the water, added the official.
He explained that this creates the need for increased chemical use in water production which brings about the increasing cost of water production.
Mr. Tetteh said per every cubic metre of water treated, GHc 0.15 is spent, with the cost of chemicals constituting 60 percent.
Compared to the Barekese catchment area where the water has a 200 Hounsfield unit (HU) the Konongo and Obuasi areas have over 5000 HU in the water, due mainly to illegal mining activities, heightening the need for chemical use by the water company in its water production.
While Ghana seeks to achieve a universal coverage of clean water supply to citizens by 2025, the cost of water production due to water pollution threatens the achievement of this target, except at a higher cost.
The water company, according to Tetteh keeps sensitising communities in the catchment areas of the water bodies to desist from such bad activities which threaten sustainable water delivery in the country.
The Water Resources Commission (WRC) in Ashanti Region has drawn out and is implementing a programme of community involvement in the protection of the water bodies in the face of the growing incidence of Climate Change.
Mrs. Abena Dufie Wiredu Bremang, the Pra Basin Officer of the WRC said this programme has been making some impact Penten, one of the closest communities to the Offing River, near Kodie in the Kwabre East District.
Nana Attah Kofi, Regent of Penten said his community had embraced the program to protect the water body because they believe the pollution would eventually affect sustainable water delivery to them.
“It is our own future we are fighting for: and so we have given the programme our full backing, and are ready to sanction anyone who flouts directives concerning water pollution.