Achiase District, located in the Eastern Region of Ghana, has decided to expand its water services. The project aims to ensure effective hand-washing to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the district.
Ghana is one of the countries most affected by Covid-19 in West Africa. On the continent as a whole, it is ranked third behind South Africa and Nigeria. According to the latest assessment by the Ghanaian authorities, the pandemic has already claimed 18 lives out of 3,091 people who tested positive for the coronavirus.
It is against this background that the Achiase district, located in Ghana’s Eastern Region, recently launched a project to extend access to water for various communities in the district. The project will promote handwashing, the main barrier measure prescribed by the country’s government to combat Covid-19. “The Assembly has already completed the construction of boreholes in Kodadwen and Enso Nyame Ye. The Community Water and Sanitation Department will also undertake water supply projects in Anyinam Kotoku and Akenkansu to provide safe drinking water to the people of the Eastern Region of Ghana,” said Richmond Amponsah, the District Director General of Achiase District.
The water extension project initiated by Achiase District is served by Ghana’s rich water resources. Ghana is one of the least water-stressed countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Ghana is notably drained by the Volta Basin, the Southwest Basin and the Coastal Basin. These three basins cover 70%, 22% and 8% of the country’s surface area respectively. In 2011, the total surface water flow was about 55 billion cubic metres. Estimates show that by 2020, water demand is expected to reach 5.13 billion cubic metres, a figure that represents only 13 % of the available surface water resources. However, almost 22% of the population still relies on untreated surface water to meet their daily water needs. This exposes them to many diseases, as 70% of diseases in Ghana are related to dirty water and lack of sanitation. In order to remedy this situation, the Ghanaian government is increasing the number of drinking water projects.
The Tono drinking water project will be completed by 2021
Work on the drinking water project in Tono, a town in the Kassena-Nankana district of the Upper East Region of northern Ghana, is expected to be fully completed by July 2021. The entire facility will provide 20,500 m³ of water per day. They will be handed over to the Ghana Water Company. According to Annalies De Beule, the coordinator of the Tono drinking water project, the project will serve more than 200,000 people in the localities of Navrongo, Bolgatanga and Paga with very good quality water, mainly for domestic use, over a period from 2021 to 2040.
The implementation of the Tono drinking water project will require an investment of US$42 million (around 242 million Ghanaian cedis). The financing is provided by the Ghanaian government with a loan from Internationale Nederlanden Groep (ING) of Belgium, an international financial institution of bank-insurance of Dutch origin. The project is also supported by the Dutch government.
Inès Magoum
