Mr Alex Abisah, Head Works Station Manager of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), at Sekyere Hemang on Saturday expressed concern about the high cost of production of potable water due to the activities of illegal miners (Galamsey) at the catchment area of the dam.
Mr Abisah said the activities of the illegal miners, the company is forced to use more chemicals such as alum and other imported ones to purify the polluted water, which eventually increased the production cost.
The Head Works Station Manager of GWCL made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during an educational tour of the Sekyere Hemang Head Works to commemorate this year’s World Water Day.
The day, celebrated worldwide each year, was instituted at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 to draw attention to the need to protect water bodies.
This year’s celebration dubbed “Water and Energy” was aimed at raising national awareness of the inter-linkages between water and energy, the broad range of issues related to the nexus of water and energy, significance of fresh water as well as to promote the sustainable management of fresh water resources.
A group of officials from GWCL in the Central Region, students of the Cape Coast Polytechnic and Edinaman Senior High School who visited the Station were taken through the various stages of water production.
He said apart from using a lot of chemicals to purify the polluted water , the raw water from the river also cause damage to the intake pumps which has to be repaired regularly thereby reducing their lifespan.
Mr. Abisah pointed out that rationing of power supply was another challenge of the station and that the company could not resort to the use of generators due to the high production and energy requirement cost, coupled with maintenance issues.
The station Manager lauded the Anti galamsey –task force for their efforts in safeguarding the river and urged them to do more since current statistics showed more pollution.
The Central Regional Chief Manager of GWCL, Mr. Emmanuel Ashia reiterated the inter dependence of water and energy and the need to protect water bodies which were the source of these basic human needs.
The Sekyere Hemang Water Head Works, commissioned in 2008, supplies water to the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem (KEEA) Municipality and some part of Cape Coast.
Source: GNA
| Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
