A potential health crisis is looming in the Effutu Municipality of the Central Region as a result of the poor quality of water supplied by Ghana Water Limited.
For over two weeks, residents have been receiving brownish water from their taps, while some communities in the municipality are also experiencing erratic supply.
Patricia Russell, an assembly member for the Kojo Beedu North Electoral, in an interview with Citi News, while pointing to a container with settled clay particles, said she spends about GHC 1,000 on tanker services every two weeks.
“Supply from the Ghana Water Limited is not consistent, and the water quality is also poor. You’d have to leave it for a couple of days for the particles to settle before you can use it,” she said.
Though residents are fully aware of the impending health implications that may arise from using the contaminated water, the unavailability of alternative sources leaves them without an option.
Local food vendors said they cook with the water that comes from the taps without additional treatment.
“The water we receive from the tap looks brownish, but that’s what I’m preparing the pancakes with because we have no option. We are aware that the water is contaminated and may give rise to infections, but what else can we do?” Comfort Arkoful, a local food vendor, told Citi News.
The Ayensu River, which serves as a raw source for Ghana Water Limited’s Winneba Headworks, has been heavily contaminated as a result of illegal mining activities.
The river, which looks muddy, is pumped at Osubonpanyin in the Effutu Municipality, treated and discharged to customers.
Though officials of the Ghana Water Limited would not make any official statement to Citi News, its central regional manager, Eric John Kwofie, strongly maintained that there was nothing wrong with the quality of water being delivered to customers.
However, the Chief Executive for the Effutu Municipality, Atta Mensah, told Citi News that “we have noted that the water residents are receiving from the taps lacks quality”.
Linking the development to illegal mining activities upstream of the Ayensu River in the Eastern Region, the MCE called on law enforcement agencies to act swiftly to save the vital water body.
