The Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Samuel Yaw Adusei, has said the 1.6 million gallon per day capacity Nsawam Water Treatment Plant would soon start operating, to serve the people of the area and its environs.
He said currently, construction of the major components of the project-water treatment plant transmission and distribution pipelines, had been completed.
Mr Adusei, who appeared before Parliament to respond to questions on the Nsawam Water Treatment Plant, on Thursday, said, “Test run of the water treatment plant, has been undertaken and all the treatment facilities are performing satisfactorily.”
Mr Adusei attributed the delay in the inauguration of the project to the siltation of the Densu River as a result of upstream activities, coupled with low water flow associated with the dry season, adding that the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) was taking steps to increase the impoundment by dredging the river bed.
He said the government, in 2011, embarked on an expansion of the Nsawam water supply project, with the provision of a new water treatment plant at a cost of 11 million Euros, to serve the people of Nsawam and its environs.
Mr Adusei said that a temporary measure had been put in place to ensure that the water crisis in the area was resolved.
“Mr Speaker, the GWCL in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) have been providing water, through tankers, to the area as part of measures to temporarily deal with the problem,” he said.
Mr Adusei said the expansion and rehabilitation works had become necessary because the initial plant was constructed as far back as 1962 and had never been renovated.
“The population of the catchment area, which the NWTP is supposed to serve, has increased so much over time, and therefore, it has to be expanded and the old system rehabilitated,” he explained.
He gave the assurance that the phase two of the project would begin as soon as funding was available, saying it would involve the rehabilitation of the existing water treatment plant and connection of the new transmission and distribution lines to the existing reservoir.
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