INTRODUCTION

Residents in certain parts of Accra and its suburbs in the past two weeks have experienced acute water shortage in their homes. This situation has, understandably, generated a lot of concern amongst the affected customers and questioning the availability of potable water to residents of Accra and indeed the good people of this country.

GENERAL WATER SUPPLY SITUATION
Water supply to the Accra-Tema Metropolitan Area normally referred to as ATMA totals about 85 million gallons per day from the Weija and Kpong Treatment Plants. However, current delivery is about 76 million gallons per day.

In contrast, demand is over 150 million gallons per day which leaves a deficit of nearly 74 million gallons per day even in the best of times.

This situation has given rise to a rationing system in the metropolis to make available some water to residents at various times and this programme has been going on for some time.

It should be mentioned that through the rationing system put in place, some areas which hitherto had “reasonable” amounts of water supply may now be experiencing less frequent supplies while those areas which have for a very long time not received any water supplies may now be receiving some water.

This rationing programme is to ensure that at least most residents in Accra receive some water some of the time rather than some few areas receiving reasonable amounts of water to the detriment of other residents who do not receive any at all.

Despite these efforts, the dry season has also increased demand for use of water putting extra strain on the rationing programme.

IMMEDIATE CAUSE FOR THE ACUTE WATER SHORTAGE
Recently residents in Accra were confronted with acute water shortage.
The immediate cause for this unfortunate situation has been that on Tuesday February 26th, the Kpong transmission line was shut down for 18 hours for maintenance and repair of a serious leakage.

The same day, Weija had to shut down for 2.5 hours due to power interruption.

On Wednesday February 27th Kpong suffered low voltage.

On the same day, electricity supply to Weija was interrupted for an hour, in addition to a major pipe burst on Independence Avenue.
On Friday February 29th, there was a 2 hour power interruption to Kpong and another to Weija on Saturday March 1st for an hour. (AVRL put out radio announcements ahead of anticipated interruptions.)

To put the situation in perspective when, for instance, there’s a five-minute power outage, it takes at least five hours to restore water flow. Therefore the impact of these occurrences on water supply is enormous.

Thus the combined effect of the planned and unforeseen power outages at the two plants, Weija and Kpong, conspired to aggravate an already uncomfortable water supply situation in Accra.

As we speak now, the situation has stabilized and production has returned to normalcy.

IMMEDIATE MEASSURES TO IMPROVE WATER SUPPLY TO ACCRA
In the midst of all these challenges, the following measures are being put in place to improve water supply in the short term:

GWCL has drilled 13 boreholes in various parts of Accra for mechanization to supplement water availability in some areas.

Work on six (6) of these boreholes at Tantra Hill, Dome and Ashongman are in progress and would be completed in two (2) weeks. When completed water supply to these areas will be considerably improved.

Other high yielding boreholes are to be mechanized notably those in Fafraha and Dodowa to boost supply to Adenta and its environs.

For areas like Teshie, La, La Polyclinic, Osu, Cantonments, Ridge, Nungua and other vulnerable areas, steps are under way to install jumbo water containers in identified areas for direct delivery through tankers. Particular locations in these areas have been mapped out for this intervention to begin and will continue as long as it is required.

To increase water supply to Accra, work on an additional 15million gallons per day Water Treatment Plant is currently going on at Weija.

This project is part of the Accra East-West Interconnection Project to transfer water from Weija to parts of Accra East through the Okponglo Reservoir. Those who drive on the motorway extension would bear witness to this project with the laying of pipes along the route through Abeka Lapaz to Weija.

On completion, the project will improve water supply to areas such as Legon, East Legon, Djorwulu, Ashalley Botwe, Madina, and its environs. It is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.

It is noted that power supply is an important factor in ensuring availability and continuity in water supply. In order to stabilize power supply to the treatment plants, GWCL is in touch with the ECG for dedicated power lines to especially the Weija and Kpong Water Treatment Plants and the Accra and Tema Booster Stations to minimise power interruption to these facilities.

This programme will be extended to all major water treatment facilities in the near future.

There are other short term projects that government has embarked upon and are in the process of being finalised.

A prototype desalination plant is to be installed near Teshie. This will test the viability of this technology and will take approximately nine (9) months to complete.

Another major project is the development of what is refered to as development of Megawatersheds in parts of Accra. This project involves deep drilling to tap water from deep down the earth. When the development and supply agreement between the company and GWCL is concluded, this would inject, initially, about 20mgd into the Accra water distribution system. The supply volume will increase with time. This project is envisaged to take about six (6) months to complete when the Agreement and all other technical and financial requirements are concluded.

MEDIUM TERM
While these projects are going on, it has to be placed on record that within the last couple of years Government has been able to obtain financing for a number of water projects all over the country since 2002.

Notable amongst them are:
Kwanyaku Water Rehabilitation and Expansion Works.
This project has been completed and work is to start to connect Kasoa and its environs to this system.

Also to interconnect is the Winneba Water Treatment Works. When completed, this will relieve Weija of water supply to these areas thereby releasing water hitherto supplied from Weija to supplement supply to Accra.

Cape Coast Water Supply Project
This has been completed and is undergoing test runs and is awaiting formal commissioning.

Other Projects to be completed within the next year or two include the following:

• BaifiKrom Water Supply Project
• Barekese Rehabilitation and Expansion Project
• Tamale Rehabilitation and Expansion Project
• Koforidua Rehabilitation and Expansion Project

PROJECTS TO BE STARTED IN 2008.
These include ATMA Rurals. This involves the rehabilitation of the Old Kpong Plant to boost supplies to the Akwapim Ridge Area, parts of Manya and Yilo Krobo areas, and all the way through Dangme West to parts of Dangme East.

Other projects include Damongo in the Northern Region, Mampong and Konongo and Kumawu in Ashanti, and New Tafo in the Eastern Region.

Funding for other projects are in the pipeline and include Bolgatanga, Wa, Techiman, Sunyani, Kwahu Ridge, and perhaps the most notable, Kpong II to install another 40mgd Water Treatment Plant to increase water supply to Tema and Accra.
(Complete List is attached)

In all these projects government is not oblivious of the temporary hardships that the target population might face or are facing. It is only a matter of time when these projects fully come on stream that government will be appreciated for the efforts made to improve water supply to, especially the urban water sector.

LONGTERM SOLUTION
For the long term, and across the whole country, the Ministry through the GWCL is preparing a Strategic Investment Plan to cover demand in the urban sector up to the year 2025. For the Rural and Small Towns the CWSA has conclude one for up to the year 2015.

These Strategic Documents will guide Government in assessing the financial requirements for water provision to enable it access funds for its planned implementation to meet their respective demand objectives.

The recently launched National Water Policy also provides the framework for the sustainable management of our water resources for now and the future to assure of availability of water not only for potable water supply, but also for other beneficial uses such as agriculture, fisheries, hydro-power generation and others, and above all to sustain biodiversity and the environment.

In brief, it is intended to assure availability of water for our future generations through prudent management, development and efficient utilisation.

It therefore looks at watershed management with Integrated Water Resources Management approach as its core management principle. By this, the Policy seeks to acknowledge the diverse uses for water and to make appropriate provision for them and at the same time keeping an eye on its availability in terms of quantity and quality at any point in time.

The policy also acknowledges the important role physical planning plays in assuring of water supply through the proper layout of towns and cities.

There are many issues that can be advanced for our present situation but we can pause here and invite questions to either provide further explanation on the situation or clarify some of the issues on the presentation.

Thank You.