By: Ewoenam Kpodo | Voltaonlinegh.com |
Volta Regional Director of Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), Ing. Divine Dugbartey has decried the many challenges facing the agency in the region citing finance as the biggest impeding their work of getting clean water to rural dwellers in Volta and Oti regions.
Ing. Dugbartey said though the agency had done quite well since it took charge of water supply systems in the region on June 18, 2018, there was the need for funding to be able to make impact.
According to him, projects carried out included rehabilitation of treatment plants on the surface systems, transmission lines, distribution lines, storage tanks and public standpipes and installation of pumps and noted, more needed to be done.
“We have done a lot since we took over because we have been able to rehabilitate pump houses at Akatsi, Taviefe, Vakpo, Kwamekrom. We have also worked at the intake at Adidome and Kpassa-Damanko but there’s still more to be done and we haven’t stopped. What it means is that for the system to operate optimally, we need to invest more.”
The Regional Director made this known on Wednesday during CWSA regional stakeholder engagements in Ho themed “Reforming Ghana’s Water Sub-sector towards Efficient Management of WASH Services to Rural Communities and Small Towns”.
He lamented the situation and made reference to Damanko-Kpassa where he said “CWSA needs about 15 million Ghana cedis to replace the UPBC pipes with HDPE pipes for the transmission of about 40 kilometres” saying, funds were readily unavailable.
He therefore called on all stakeholders to be a part as he emphasised that “everyone has a responsibility to ensure that safe water runs in every rural home” to enable Ghana attain SDG 6 which is about clean water and sanitation by 2030.
An official from CWSA Head office, Mr. Ibrahim Adoko took participants through what the Agency is about, its mandate, the reforms it underwent, the challenges and achievements.
Mr. Adoko said the Agency established in 1998 to facilitate the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services was to implement National Community Water and Sanitation Programme (NCWSP) managed under Community Ownership and Management (COM) model.
He said there were challenges with the system including water management gap, interrupted service, continuous breakdown of water systems, high indebtedness to power distributors and inadequate maintenance that threatened the sustainability of the huge investments by government.
He disclosed that the shift from community management approach had brought professionalism into the water management system and its attendant outcomes including increased revenue in sale of water without increase in tariff.
The Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Letsa in a speech read on his behalf, was grateful to CWSA for its efforts in addressing water problems in rural areas in the region and the country at large.
To Dr. Letsa, new approaches must be adopted in the water management system for desired impact in order to fit into government’s Ghana beyond Aid agenda.
District Chief Executive (DCE) for North Dayi, Edmund Kudjoh Attah who chaired the occasion underscored the importance of clean water in rural areas describing the theme for the engagement as apt.
The Dean of MDCEs commended the Agency for their efforts and urged them to ensure more rural areas were covered in future to make the SDG 6 achievable.
Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com
