The Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) has since 2017 invested GH¢486million into projects targeted at improving access to safe water in 189 rural communities across Ghana.
The projects included the construction of various water infrastructure and the extension of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) pipelines to areas where potable water is scarce.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the CWSA, Dr Worlanyo Kwadjo Siabi, revealed this at the Ministry of Information meet-the-press series held in Accra yesterday.
He said water coverage as estimated by his outfit was 62.63
per cent as at the year 2022, adding that it covered water services provided by only state institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and religious bodies under CWSA’s supervision.
Touching on CSWA’s WASH activities he said that covered 17,441 out of 29,279 communities in all 16 regions of the country.
He expressed worry about the quality of ground water in some parts of the country, saying at least 30 per cent of such water sources had high levels of iron, manganese, fluoride, arsenic and hardness.
Surface water sources, he said have also deteriorated as a result of human activities like mining in most river basins.
In furtherance Dr Siabi mentioned that inadequate financing for post-construction activities to guarantee regular follow-ups, repairs and maintenance and the changes in the financing landscape of Ghana were challenges faced by the CWSA.
As at 2022, he said water infrastructure available to rural communities and small towns, provided by the CWSA, MMDAs, NGOs and religious bodies were 31,388 boreholes fitted with hand pumps, 616 small town pipe water systems and 1,308 mechanised water systems.
“We are currently managing 189 pipe water systems in 169 districts in 16 regions. 170 of these water systems were rehabilitated before technical staff were deployed to manage them.
“CWSA currently has 1,418 staff, an increase from 196 staff in 2017. The new staff, numbering 1,224 were employed and paid by the CWSA from water sales,” he added.
According to the CEO, new technologies, including the use of smart tap on standpipes to allow water delivery at any time, development of softwares internally to manage operations and the application of automated pumps and packaged water treatment plants have also been deployed to improve water system operation.
Dr Siabi stated that the CWSA has reached an agreement with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to design an intelligent robot capable of detecting burst pipelines and unapproved nodes, adding that it would be launched next year.
The collaboration he said would also see to the development of packaged water treatment plants to remove excess minerals in water.
He assured that the CWSA remained committed to achieving its mandate while partnering stakeholders to deliver its projects and programmes.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU $ AGNES OWUSU
