MORE COMMUNITIES ENJOY POTABLE WATER (PAGE 35)

FORTY communities in the Northern and Upper West regions are now enjoying potable water.
This was made possible through the provision of 40 borehole facilities to the beneficiary communities estimated at GH¢280,000.
Communities like Wawa, Gbankurugu and Tojing in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo district, as well as Kolinva, Bilalugri and Nakpazong in the East Mamprusi district were the latest to have been provided with the facilities.
The intervention was made possible through the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in collaboration with residents of Seattle in the United States, CARE Ghana, Buffet Foundation, the Global Water Initiative and district assemblies of the beneficiary communities.
During a ceremony at Wawa to inaugurate the facilities, the Global Solidarity Co-ordinator of the CRS, Mr Thomas Awiapo, indicated that the intervention by his outfit and its partners were aimed at addressing challenges such as inadequate access to potable water and poor community management of water resources.
According to him, the people of Seattle alone provided $72,000 to provide 20 out of the total 40 borehole facilities.
He explained that the facilities were provided over a period of four years while six of them were constructed this year.
Mr Awiapo stated that the CRS had for the past 50 years implemented programmes in such sectors as school feeding, maternal and child health, water and sanitation, HIV and AIDS, safety net initiatives, peace-building, conflict transformation and agribusiness.
The co-ordinator intimated that CRS had utilised its private resources with technical assistance from district assemblies and contributions from community members to construct over 1,000 household latrines in the 40 beneficiary communities.
“In the last five years, the CRS has been actively engaged in the provision of potable water and improved sanitation rural communities in the Northern Negion,” he stressed.
The Leader of the Seattle Team, Madam Jan Kline, noted that a total of 50 people in the city had visited the beneficiary communities and interacted with them over the past four years.
She urged the people to send their children to school now that they would no longer travel long distances in search of water, thereby losing contact hours in their respective schools.