GWCL begins water rationing in Wa

The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has begun rationing water to its 1,890 customers in the Wa Municipality, due to the low level of under ground water, which is as a result of the dry season. Mr Ahmed Tahiru, Upper West Regional Operations Manager of the Company, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency on the issue at Wa on Friday said, the rationing would continue until May this year when the rains are expected to begin. He said only 16 mechanized boreholes were currently pumping water to the fast expanding Municipality and as a result, the Company was meeting the water needs of only about 32 per cent of its population. The rest of the population, he noted got their water from privately dug boreholes and other sources. "However the safety of these private boreholes cannot be guaranteed as the depth of some of them was very low and their water was not chemically treated before consumption". He added that until the Municipality was supplied with a surface water reservoir, the current situation would remain as the Company would continue to ration water to its customers during every dry season. Mr Tahiru also told customers to bear with them when ever there is a power outage because they were using three-phased capacity machines to pump water in the Municipality. "When any of these phases goes off due to power outage the machines ceases pumping water and the longer this happens the water cannot flow", he explained.