Stakeholders in the Water Sector discusses Technological options for water supply

Stakeholders within the water sector in Ghana met on Thursday 28 January at the Third National Level Learning Alliance Platform (NLLAP) meeting, organized by the Resource Centre Network (RCN) to update stakeholders on happenings within the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector.

The National Learning Alliance, held every last Thursday of the month, was this time on the theme: “Technological Options for Water Supply”.

The discussions were centered on three technologies namely: the Rope Pump, the Mwacafe and the UV technology , presented by WaterAid, CWSA and Water Health Ghana respectively.

Mr Jesse Danku, Head of Programmes at Water Aid Ghana, a non -governmental organization presented the Rope Pump as a technological option for water supply in Ghana described the technology as a low cost, simple and easy to maintain hand pump, that can be made with locally available materials.

He said the Rope Pump mainly operates on hand dug-wells and pointed out that there is an on-going implementation of the technology in the three northern regions.

“Using the Rope Pump is relatively cheaper as compared to other technologies,” he said and added the rope could last for more than four years.

The Rope Pump is however still battling with issues of sector acceptability. The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector had not fully accepted the Rope Pump.

There is a need for sector players to brainstorm on the acceptable standard for Ghana’s Rope Pump.

Mrs Mawunyo Puplampu, General Manager of Water Health Ghana, gave a presentation on the UV Waterworks technology, as a technological option for providing high quality water to communities in Ghana.
The system uses alum and other chemicals to disinfect water and make it safe for drinking. The UV Waterworks technology produces about 60 thousand litres of water within 24 hours at an operational and maintenance cost of about 800 Ghana cedis and sells at 10 pesewas for 20 litres (one bucket) of water.

The technology, which currently operates in Pokuase, a peri-urban area near Accra and Afuaman, a rural community, serves a total of about 300 households from Pokuase and 100 households from Afuaman.

Most of the participants expressed concern about the cost of water supply using the technology, saying the costs are too high for those in the rural areas to pay, especially as compared to the cost of water supplied by the Ghana Water Company Limited.

Others argued that it was not prudent to compare heavily subsidized projects with projects operating on cost recovery basis.

Mrs Pupulampu said Water Health consulted the people who patronize the services before fixing the fee and promised that Water Health would take the concerns into consideration.

Participants stressed the need for active involvement of people who patronize the technology in decision making, since the project is supposed to be manage by the community, supervised by Water Health.
Mr Worlanyo Kwadjo Siabi, Upper West Regional Director of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, gave a presentation on a technology that is able to remove iron and manganese from underground water.

The technology named Mwacafe, has proven effective in the removal of those chemicals in underground water.

Mr Siabi said underground water always had quality issues in terms of the presence of such chemicals in them and mentioned that according to a website www.med.harvard.edu an overdose of iron caused impotence, hence the need to treat water to be free from such chemicals.

Participants lauded the forum. Calling it an improvement on earlier ones held. Mr Robert Kweku Dadson Van-Ess, Acting Chief Executive of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) said the sector had gone far ahead in terms of providing services to the rural community and lauded the RCN platform that allowed sector players to share experiences.

He however said there was the need for a larger participation and recommended the involvement of development partners in the Learning Alliance Meetings.

Other participants also suggested that the participation in the Learning Alliance meetings be expanded to include District Assemblies, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Water and Sanitation and even expand to hold such meetings at the District level to encourage larger participation.