By Daniel Donkor
Residents of the Sunyani Municipality are grappling with an acute water crisis after taps ran dry for nearly a week, forcing households, businesses, and institutions to scramble for alternative sources of water.
For six consecutive days, several communities across the municipality have endured severe shortages following a disruption in supply from the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).
The prolonged outage has left many families relying on stored water or purchasing supplies from private vendors to meet basic needs such as cooking, bathing, and sanitation.
Others have resorted to trekking long distances to boreholes and nearby streams in search of water, adding to the daily burden of residents already struggling with rising living costs.
Some affected residents say the situation has disrupted daily routines and strained household budgets, as the cost of buying water continues to rise.
“For almost a week now our taps have not flowed. We have to wake up very early to queue at boreholes or buy water from vendors, which is expensive,” a resident at Penkwase said.
Sources familiar with the situation indicate that heavy deposits of muddy sediments in the Tano River have clogged sections of intake systems and pipelines, making it difficult for engineers to pump and treat water efficiently for distribution.
However, in an official statement, the Ghana Water Company Limited in Sunyani attributed the disruption primarily to damage caused to its major transmission pipelines during road construction works.
According to the company, the contractor working on the Abesim–SUSEC road expansion project destroyed two critical transmission lines measuring 12 inches and 8 inches in diameter, significantly affecting the flow of treated water to several communities.
“The contractor working on the Abesim–SUSEC road expansion project damaged our 12-inch and 8-inch transmission pipelines, which has affected water supply to parts of the municipality,” the statement explained.
GWCL assured residents that engineers are working around the clock to repair the damaged pipelines and restore normal water supply as quickly as possible. The company also apologised for the inconvenience caused and appealed to customers for patience while repair works continue.
The disruption has affected several communities, including Penkwase, Nkwabeng, Airport, Zinco, Military Barracks, New Dormaa, Kotokrom, Yawhimeh, and Chiraa, among others.
As residents await the restoration of water services, the crisis has once again drawn attention to the fragile balance between infrastructure development, environmental pressures on water sources, and the urgent need for reliable water supply in the rapidly expanding Sunyani Municipality.
