The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR) in collaboration with the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) is supplying 30,000 litres of water to residents of Chorkor in Accra on daily basis till the end of June this year.

The exercise formed part of government’s interventions to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

At the various points where the Polytanks  were mounted,  residents  had  massed up  with  various  water  containers with the  hope of fetching  a gallon of water without observing social distancing while others had no face or nose masks on. 

Inspecting  three 10,000-litre Polytanks and a stand pipe  erected  at vantage points in the  community, the Minister  of  Sanitation and Water Resources,  Cecilia Abena Dapaah  said  the water  was part of government’s  effort to give  communities  without  water  free  water to enable them observe  the COVID-19  protocols.

She said the provision of the  tanks was to help the turnaround time of the  water  tankers  adding that “ this will ensure that  the  water tankers do not spend too much time  at  a particular place  but it would off load the  water into  the polytanks  and  then move to another  place.” 

She said government was absorbing  the cost of the  water  from the  source to  the  final  consumer and that no one was expected to  charge  a fee  for the  water.

The Minister urged the assembly member of the area to involve the unit committee members in controlling the crowd that mass up at the water points to fetch water.

Madam Dapaah encouraged the residents to put on their nose masks whenever they step out and also observe social distancing when fetching the water.

 The Managing Director of GWCL, Dr Clifford A. Braimah said the intervention was to fill in the gaps especially at places where the company did not have pipes.

He said the installation of the polytanks would help the company estimate it customers and know the amount of water supplied to residents in Chorkor.

He urged the residents  not to  misuse the water  because it was  free,  adding that “we need to guard against  waste  because  we do not have  enough water to waste.”

The Accra West GWCL Chief Manager, Mark Teiko Codjoe said a poly tank would serve about 2000 residents a day.