PURC DEPLORES POOR WATER SUPPLY TO UE (D/G Saturday, September 29, 2008 BACK PAGE)

THE Chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has expressed displeasure at the inability of Aqua Vitens Rand and the Ghana Water Company Limited to supply sufficient water to residents of Bolgatanga, Bawku and Navrongo in the Upper East Region.
Speaking at Bolgatanga after he led a team of commissioners of the PURC on a tour of the Upper East Region, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, stressed the need to harness the various water sources in the region to make potable water accessible to all.
Prof. Frimpong Boateng mentioned the White Volta River, the Tono Dam and other small dams as possible sources of raw water that could be tapped for use and advocated the deployment of appropriate technology to make water accessible to all.
While imploring the operators to expedite effort to get water to the people, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng stressed the need for consumers to pay their modest water bills to help the operators to continue to provide them with the quality services required of them.
The acting Upper East Regional Chief Manager of Aqua Vitens Rand, Mr George Yanore, mentioned the siltation of the Vea Dam and the breakdown of pumping machines at Vea, the suspected drop in the ground water table of the wells at Bawku and Navrongo and frequent power outages as some of the challenges facing the smooth operation in the region.
Mr Yanore said studies were ongoing, with funding from the World Bank, for the expansion of the Bolgatanga water system. The goal of the project is to meet the water supply needs of the municipality by 2025.
He added that the company, with support from a Dutch NGO, Water for Life, was funding the extension of water to selected poor communities in the Bawku and Navrongo areas.
This will involve the construction of 15 public standpipes to supply water to the people.
He said the viable option for Bawku was to consider the possibility of a surface water system, probably from the nearby White Volta River.
Out of the estimated daily demand of 1.3 million gallons of water per day for Bolgatanga, only 880,000 gallons of water is pumped, whilst of the estimated daily demand of 1,134,000 gallons in Bawku, only 178,000 gallons are pumped.
In Navrongo, only 167,000 gallons are supplied, out of the daily estimated demand of 640,000 gallons.
While water treated for consumption in Bolgatanga is from the Vea Dam, Bawku and Navrongo are supplied from mechanised boreholes.
The rest of the small systems have been handed over to the respective district assemblies for management by the communities under the National Community Water and Sanitation Strategy.