3 COMMUNITIES GET SOLAR-POWERED WATER SYSTEMS (PAGE 22, JUNE 18, 2010)

SOLAR-POWERED and electro-mechanised water supply systems have been inaugurated for three deprived communities in the Central Gonja District in the Northern Region.
The facilities valued at GH¢280,000 are fitted with transmission and distribution pipelines and located at Buipe, Kegbripe and Mpaha.
They were provided jointly by the European Union (EU) and the United Nation’s Education Fund (UNICEF) under the UNICEF’s Integrated Approach to Guinea Worm Eradication Through Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in the Northern Region (I-WASH) programme.
The Central Gonja District Assembly, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and New Energy,a Tamale-based non-governmental organisation are the other partners of the project.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, the Regional I-WASH Project Management Team Leader, Mr Gilbert Dery, stated that the facilities would ultimately help to prevent the outbreak of water borne diseases, particularly guinea worm.
He said last year,the Central Gonja District alone recorded 62 per cent of incidence of the guinea worm as against zero this year, and it was envisaged that the provision of such facilities would help forestall the recurrence of the disease.
He further explained that rehabilitation of the electro-mechanised Buipe Small Town Water Supply System was completed in 2006 with support from Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) under the management of a seven-member Water and Sanitation Development Board.
According to him, the remaining two facilities at Kegbripe and Mpaha were solar powered.
The facilities will provide potable water to a total of 22,667 people with 6,700 of them being children in the three beneficiary communities.
“Prior to the installation of the water systems, the communities were relying on water from such unsafe sources as dams and dug dugouts,”Mr Dery stated.
The Head of the EU Delegation in Ghana, Mr Claude Maerten commended the district assembly and health authorities in the district for their efforts in eradicating guinea worm in the area.
“This is a real great achievement and I hope all partners involved in disease prevention and eradication would strengthen their ties towards achieving greater things in the area of disease management in the district,” Mr Maerten stressed.
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Elias Sory commended residents of the district for embracing and accepting the education programmes carried out by health authorities.
He, however, stressed the need for them to focus on sending their children to school, saying that was a big challenge in the area.
Dr Sory entreated residents of the beneficiary communities to maintain the facilities to enable them to derive maximum benefits from them.
The Central Gonja District Chief Executive, Mr Salisu Be-Awuribe, expressed gratitude to the EU and UNICEF for the intervention.
According to him, the district’s water coverage was about 36 per cent due to the low water table in the area.
Mr Be-Awuribe explained that although the district was endowed with the Black and White Volta that passed through the area, access to potable water had been the greatest challenge due to the huge capital investment required to provide potable water using such sources.
The EU head accompanied by his entourage, including Dr Yasmin Ali Haque, the UNICEF Country Representative, visited the Guinea worm case containment centre at Fufulso and also inspected a household water filtration and treatment plant.
The District Co-ordinator of guinea worm eradication programme, Mr Sulemana Ibrahim, stated that between January and December, last year, Fufulso recorded 148 cases of guinea worm as against zero this year.