For more than four months, residents of Nungua, a suburb of Accra, have been deprived of the most essential need, water.
Mothers, fathers, and children alike are enduring severe hardship, with survival becoming a test of resilience.
Families that once depended on Ghana Water for their daily lives now find themselves stranded, rationing every drop. Children arrive late to school, workers arrive late to their jobs, all because of hours spent searching for water.
In an interview, Pastor Isaac Odai of Word of Faith Mission described how they struggle to survive without running water. According to him, a small pail of water is rationed and stretched over several days, used sparingly for cooking, minimal washing, and drinking.
“We try to manage ourselves. We have these small buckets that we use to measure, so that you can at least enjoy the few ones you have. Sometimes, when it becomes so tough, you have to buy sachet water to support. When the water company comes to check the meter, and you ask about the situation, they only say water will come,” he explained.
Businesswoman Grace Kadbry said the past four to five months have been nothing short of unbearable. Each day is a struggle as she waits, hoping for the day the tap will flow again. The situation, she says, has brought her life to a standstill, with washing now a luxury.
Grace narrated how routine household chores have been abandoned altogether:
“If you wake up in the morning without water, you cannot bathe, you can’t wash, you can’t cook, you can’t do anything. The time you’re supposed to bathe and go, you are now looking for water, searching from corner to corner. You go to one place, it stops flowing, and they ask you to go to another. Imagine, from 31st night until today, I couldn’t wash the white cloth I wore to service because there was no water. I had to take a taxi to fetch some before I could wash,” she said.
Tina’s story mirrors the same hardship shared by families in the community. She described how the shortage has disrupted every aspect of her life, from personal hygiene to caring for her home.
“It’s been very hectic, very, very hectic. There’s no water. At times, it comes once a day, once a week, even then, some areas don’t get any at all. In my house, for about two months now, we haven’t had even a drop of water.”
Officials of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) said the shutdown of the Teshie-Nungua desalination plant is to blame. They explained that once the legal dispute with the plant owners is resolved, water will flow again to coastal communities.
“We’ve had to shed a little water from Kpone to serve people in that area. But given the population, there’s no way we can supply more than three days a week. Because of the new rationing regime, our network still needs interconnections to ensure water reaches elsewhere. Hopefully, we will end these legal issues with the plant owners soon,” officials stated.
For now, residents of Nungua and surrounding communities continue to bear the brunt of the water crisis. Their socio-economic lives remain disrupted until duty bearers resolve the challenge with the water supply.
By Beatrice Sowah, 3news.com
