<<Print>>

The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has asked the operators of the Teshie Desalination plant to, as a matter of urgency, operate at full capacity to help improve the water supply situation in the country.

The plant, which was shut down for about a year over some technical and operational challenges, resumed operation on March 18, this year.

Currently, it produces an average of 40,000 cubic metres of water daily instead of the overall capacity of 60,000 cubic metres a day.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra last Monday, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of GWCL, Mr Stanley Martey, said the under production of water by the desalination plant coupled with other challenges such as water losses through burst pipelines and leakages had made it difficult for the company to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of the commodity.

Water gap

Giving figures, the PRO said out of the total daily nationwide water demand of 1.4 cubic metres which translated into 310 million gallons, the company currently produced 875,000 cubic metres, translating into 192 million gallons.

The situation leaves a daily water supply gap of 65,000 cubic metres or 118 million gallons to be filled.

He explained further that although the GWCL had 90 water systems across the country to ensure adequate supply of water, some of the plants needed expansion while more investment in new ones was also needed to help bridge the water consumption gap.

Shutdown

Touching further on the Teshie Desalination plant, Mr Martey said contrary to the assertion that the GWCL shut the plant down because the facility was making losses, he said it was rather the operators of the facility that requested a shutdown to allow them to carry out maintenance works on the plant.

"The operators of the desalination plant wrote to GWCL requesting 17 days shutdown to enable them to repair their equipment. We have always demanded quality service from them so we granted the 17 days shutdown request but it went beyond that to 65 days.

"After that, they said they had other internal challenges and that was what delayed the resumption of their operations," he said.

When asked what those challenges were, he said he could not speak to them.

However, the operators of the plant had publicly complained that high cost of power had been a major challenge to their operations.

Measures

Mr Martey said as part of measures to bridge the water demand gap, the GWCL wrote to the operators of the desalination plant to ensure that they operated at full capacity but that request had not been met as of now.

"When they started operation, we had challenges with our pipelines so anytime the plant operated at full capacity, our pipelines couldn't contain the volumes but now we have replaced our pipelines with strong ones and have the capacity to do 60,000 cubic metres of water.

"We want them to do full capacity because we are in dire need of water, especially in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak," he stressed.
Mr Martey said the GWCL would want to see the operators deal with their internal challenges to be able to produce at full capacity.

Washing bays

Touching on the earlier call the GWCL made to operators of washing bays to make judicious use of water at their facilities, he warned that the company would embark on a crackdown on recalcitrant operators.

"We know that they are legal customers and they pay their bills; but we are engaging their conscience for them to understand that we have a more essential need for water in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.