
An acute water shortage has hit Sekondi-Takoradi and its environs for over a month now, with some of the residents blaming Ghana Water Company Limited for the erratic water supply.
Information gathered by the Daily Statesman shows that treated water has since the middle of December last year stopped flowing through the taps in many homes.
The situation has compelled residents, especially women and children, to fetch water from wells and compete with animals for water from nearby streams.
Speaking to the Daily Statesman, some of the residents indicated that they had been drinking the untreated water for the past months because they had no choice.
“We needed water to survive. Apart from the struggle we go through every day to get the water from the wells, it is not safe for consumption but we don’t have the means to treat the water,” a resident lamented.
Suspicion
However, the residents said that despite the harmattan season, the extent of shortage is unprecedented in the twin-city. They suspect a foul play on the part of Ghana Water Management (GWCL) management in the area.
Residents wonder why this is not a deliberate move to punish consumers for non-payment of bills, saying “we have dared management to come out and explain things to us”.
Against this backdrop, they have accused management of GWCL of blatantly refusing to comment on the issue despite their incessant agitation.
According to them, numerous calls have been made to the company through its customer lines, but have all proved futile.
“Attempts to contact the GWCL Western Regional Public Relations Officer, Nana Bannie, to address the issue has yielded no results. We will stop complaining and allow management and workers of GWCL to do what pleases them,” they said.
The residents observed that although their tabs are not running, the meters keep reading and recording bills which ought to be paid, adding “that was what even infuriates us the most”.
Defaulting customers
Nana Bannie had earlier in an interview with the media spoken of plans by the company to drag all defaulting customers to the law court.
He warned that all such customers, including those whose lines had been disconnected for the past two years, would not be spared.
He added that the Ghana Water Company Limited had embarked on a nationwide legal exercise to retrieve all debts from recalcitrant customers after serving them with notices.
“Similar exercise had already taken place in neighbouring Central Region, where millions of cedis owed the company by individuals, sachet water producers, institutions and reputable hotels were retrieved,” Nana Bannie noted.
Meanwhile, information available to the paper has it that many defaulting customers in the Ashanti Region have also been dragged to court.
Read Also: “National COVID-19 Vaccination Days” programme slated for Feb.