According to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), water supply to those areas and other communities could be curtailed or disrupted if nothing was done in the meantime to repair the broken-down filters.

The four broken-down filters, which were among 12 installed several years ago, were similarly taken out of service in 2016 and 2017, leaving only eight filters available to handle the entire purified water load of the plant.

Filters

The Water Quality Assurance Officer at the Weija Treatment Plant, Mr John Suobogbiree, said water filters removed impurities from water by means of fine physical barrier, chemical or biological process.

He said even though the plant was working hard to supply water to the Accra West Region, pressure on the remaining eight filters to produce 40 million gallons of water a day was too much and could cause their destruction.

Mr Suobogbiree made the disclosure when the Weija/Gbawe Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Patrick Kwesi Brako Kumor, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Weija/Gbawe Constituency, Ms Tina Gifty Naa Ayele Mensah, visited the water treatment plant to assess its performance and be updated on challenges the plant was facing and ways to deal with them.

Highest capacity

Mr Suobogbiree said the filters were damaged beyond repair so it required that they should be replaced.

He added that it could take about six months to a year to have new ones designed and built.

He said due to increasing population and expansion of Accra there was a correspondent increase in demand for water, a situation that had necessitated the need for the Ghana Water Company (GWCL) to make special efforts to meet the demand.

Appeal

He appealed to the government to come to the aid of the GWCL immediately by acquiring new water filters for the company in order to prevent future water shortages in the Accra West Region.

He also expressed concern about the frequent power outages being experienced, saying it disrupted operations at the plant.

For his part, Mr Kumor gave an assurance that the government would help the Weija Treatment Plant acquire new filters to enable it work smoothly.

“If we have to rehabilitate or buy new filters so that Accra West would not be hit with water shortages, we will do that.

A letter will be sent to the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources for the government to take immediate action,” he said.

Action

Ms Mensah, reflected on the consequences of water shortage in Accra West and said: “The 37 Military Hospital and the Korle Bu Teaching Hospitals will all be affected when there is water shortage so it is urgent that the damaged filters are replaced. I am hopeful that the government will consider that and come out with the appropriate solutions”.