The people of Apegusu in the Eastern Region are calling on the government and authorities to address their recurrent challenge of access to potable water.
Though there are some boreholes sunk in the community, residents say they do not produce clean, potable water for their day-to-day use due to the “high salt content."
Students of the Apegusu Senior High School (APESEC) are not spared the problem as the absence of potable water forces the school community to depend on mechanized boreholes on campus for drinking and other uses.
The situation becomes dire during power outages as there are no standby generators to power the boreholes, leaving students and teachers stranded.
Adonten Hemea of the Akwamu Traditional Area and Queen mother of Apegusu, Nana Adwoa Oduraa III said the issue had become a huge challenge for the community.
She said though there are boreholes in Apegusu, the people could not depend on them due to their unpleasant contents.
“Our major problem here is the lack of pipe-borne water. The boreholes are also insufficient and the salt content is a problem… The water is salty and doesn’t lather when used to wash or bath. It produces hard water which turns white when left unused so the pipe-borne water will help us,” noted the queen mother.
She expressed concern at school children roaming in search of potable water before and after school, a situation that may not bode well for their academic activities.
She complained “The children spend the mornings in search of water instead of preparing for school and also after school.”
Nana Adwoa Oduraa III also complained about the lack of toilet facilities and proper disposal sites in the community and appealed for household refuse containers to be shared among residents of the community to contain the rubbish.
An opinion leader in the community, Omanbapa Agyenim Boateng in an interview with GhanaWeb observed that the community was deprived of good drinking water despite “sleeping on the Akosombo dam.”
“Apegusu is not benefitting from the dam meanwhile, we sleep on the dam…we've not been getting pipe-borne water since immemorial.
“We have a secondary school in the community which is APESEC, they are not having water likewise the community members,” he said, dreading the effects of drinking unwholesome water on the people.
Omanbapa Agyenim Boateng said though there are streams in the community, they were being polluted by agrochemicals and hence could not be wholesome for use by the residents.
He called on the Member of Parliament (MP) and District Chief Executive (DCE) of Asuogyaman to ensure that they facilitate the provision of potable water for the people.
The opinion leader further asserted that the situation was forcing professionals posted to the area to leave before the due date.
The people are therefore appealing to the government and other benevolent organizations to help provide them with pipe-borne water.
