Crime

2 before court for allegedly supplying unwholesome water to homes

Mr Kwabena Atakora and Kwabena Asuning, Managing Director and foreman of Integral Associates Limited, also known as Integral Homes have been granted GHC20,000 bail by the Adentan District Court (1) for allegedly supplying unwholesome water to residents.

Mr Atakora pleaded not guilty to all the three counts of non-compliance with notice contrary to Section 153 of Land Used and Spatial Planning Act 925 of 2016, operating a mechanised borehole water system without undergoing adequate treatment and constructing of mechanised borehole system without authority or permit.

The other accused, Mr Asuning pleaded guilty to non-compliance with notice contrary to Section 153 of Land Used and Spatial Planning Act 925 of 2016, and not guilty to the two other charges.

Appearing before Linda Amissah, the presiding magistrate, Charles Tsatsu, the Environmental Health Officer at the Ga East Municipal Assembly, prosecuting, told the court that on December 24, 2020 at about 10: 45am, a resident lodged a complaint that they (resident) had skin rashes when they used the untreated water supplied by the accused.

He said that a team subsequently visited the site to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the facts; and upon investigation it was found that the mechanised borehole allegedly constructed by the accused was without treatment system.

The court heard that the accused had no permit to undertake such project in addition to lack of environmental assessment report to justify the operation of the water system.

Mr Tsatsu told the court that on December 31, 2020,  a sample of the water was taken to the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)  for physico-chemical analysis.

The prosecutor said that recommendation and analysis indicated that the iron and chloride content in the water was way above the the World Health Organisation (WHO) composition, thereby making the water unwholesome for domestic use.

He said following the analysis by the CSIR, the Assembly served a notice on the accused to stop the supply of the unwholesome water to the residents, but the accused failed to comply with the directive until another inspection was conducted on February 5, 2021 and accused were charged and arraigned.

BY MALIK SULLEMANA

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