Water is not flowing at Offinso north district

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WaterThe people of the Offinso North District in the Ashanti Region have, for the past three months, suffered a severe water shortage due to damage to the main pipeline that supplies the district with potable water from the Tanoso Water Headworks in the Techiman municipality in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
The damage to the pipeline was caused by a Burkina Faso-bound cargo truck loaded with logs which fell on it in an accident on January 31, 2014.
The Daily Graphic?s visit to the headworks and the Offinso North District revealed that the situation had worsened the living conditions of the people of the district, since economically they have to rely on tricycle operators with their containers to fetch them water for a minimum fee of GH?10 per truck, while others too depend on private boreholes and streams around.
Schoolchildren have to struggle to join long queues at the stream sides to get water for their daily chores before going school, a development which has affected effective teaching and learning in the schools.
In an interview, the acting Station Manager of the Tanoso Water Headworks, Mr Andam James-Kennedy, said though the headworks was situated at Tanoso in the Techiman municipality, it mostly served people in the Ashanti Region with a daily supply of over 850 metre cube.
He said on January 31, 2014, the cargo truck fell on the main pipeline, damaging it, thereby cutting the flow of water to the entire Offinso North District.
According to Mr James-Kennedy, it took the company over two months to repair the damaged pipeline to reconnect the people of Offinso North, at a cost of over GH?97,000.
Unfortunately, just a week after the repairs, another cargo truck fell on the same pipeline, destroying it and again cutting water supply.
The Tanoso Water Headworks was inaugurated on October 9, 1996 by then President Jerry John Rawlings to serve parts of Techiman and the Ashanti Region, particularly Nkenkensu, due to the outbreak of cholera there at that time.
Meanwhile, the current situation has rekindled the fear that there will be an outbreak of cholera in the Offinso North District due to the shortage of water for over three months.
The District Chief Executive for Offinso North, Samuel Appiah-Kubi, described the situation as unbearable but insisted that efforts were being made to repair the damaged pipeline to reconnect the district for water to flow as expected.
He said currently the assembly had contracted operators of water tankers to supply all hospitals and clinics in the district with water each morning, which is a drain on the assembly?s coffers.
Mr Appiah-Kubi said he had consulted the managers of the Ghana Water Company in both the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions on how best the problem would be solved and also avert future occurrences.
He called on the people of the district to be a bit patient and collaborate with the assembly to resolve the problem quickly to ease the hardship and frustrations that the shortage had caused.
Source-Graphic

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