GWCL to ration water in Cape Coast – Regional Manager

The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) is to start the rationing of water in Cape Coast and its environs to address the issue of inadequate water supply in the area.

Some areas in Cape Coast had been without water for days due to the shortfall in the supply of potable water by the company.

The situation had become necessary as a result of very low levels of water at Sekyere Hemang Headworks due to the heavy silts produced as a result of illegal mining activities.

The Regional Distribution Manager for the GWCL, Thomas Amenya, told the Ghanaian Times that the company had been compelled to occasionally shut down to do desilting in order to enable it to build requisite water levels at Sekyere Hemang.

“As a result, we may be experiencing “no or low” flow at a point,” he said.

He stated that the lack of constant supply from Sekyere Hemang Headworks to augment that of Brimsu Headworks meant an almost 40 per cent shortfall of total production volumes towards Cape Coast Township.

Mr Amenya further explained that the GWCL averagely produced 15,000 cubic metres of water per day from Sekyere Hemang, and between 22,000 to 23,000 cubic metres per day from the Brimsu headworks.

He stated that 9,000 cubic metres of water was normally pumped from Sekyere Hemang to supplement the water supply from Brimsu.

Currently, he said, the company could only produce 5,000 cubic metres of water per day from Sekyere Hemang, thereby, having a shortfall of 10,000 cubic metres of water production.

Mr Amenya explained that the GWCL had stepped up production at Brimsu from the maximum of 23,000 cubic metres to 29,000 cubic metres per day to ameliorate the situation.

He said GWCL would carry out rationing of water for both Cape Coast South and Cape Coast North constituencies, Elmina and its environs.

He mentioned that would ensure an adequate supply of potable water to all residents of the area.

That decision, he said, was also critical because due to the topography of the area, it was necessary that residents in high areas also receive water.

He explained that the company expected the water production situation in the area to normalise by the end of the month.

He, therefore, called on residents to bear with the company as workers and management resolve the production challenges.

In a statement signed and issued by the Central and Western Communication Manager for the GWCL, Nana Yaw Bannie indicated that the onset of the dry season adversely affected water production and distribution.

The GWCL in the Central Region was facing challenges in the abstraction of adequate quantities of raw water for its treatment plants at Sekyere Hemang and Baifikrom.

“Due to lack of freshwater inflows into the Prah River and the IDA Dam at Sekyere Hemang and Baifikrom respectively, the water levels at the two intake points have gone very low making it difficult to abstract enough raw water for treatment,” it said.

It said the situation had therefore resulted in low production of potable water leading to significant water supply shortfalls in Cape Coast Metropolis and Saltpond town.