The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, (GNPC), Foundation has provided ten communities in the Upper East region with boreholes with hand-pumps aimed at providing potable drinking water to the beneficiary communities.
The foundation said it was set to construct more boreholes in the Upper East region to address the lack of access to potable water in needy communities.
This came to light at a symbolic ceremony held in Bawku, capital of the Bawku municipality to hand over the Boreholes to the beneficiary communities across the region.
Some communities in the Upper East Region lack potable drinking water. Some residents in the region particularly women have to trek a distance of over four kilometers daily to access the main source of water, though polluted.
Although successive governments have tried their best to extend water supplies to various part of the country, much is still needed to be done in providing potable drinking water to residents in the various communities.
In December, 1998, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency was established by an act of parliament, ACT 564, with the mandate to facilitate the provision of safe drinking water and related sanitation services to rural communities and small towns in Ghana.
Other institutions established by the government included the Ghana Water Company Limited.
This company is responsible for the production and distribution of potable water to the urban population which constitutes about 40 percent of the entire Ghanaian population.
Despite these tremendous efforts being made by various government and international bodies to ensure that there is a regular and a sustainable supply of potable water to residents, there are several factors that tend to hinder the progress being made in championing this agenda.
The beneficiary communities include Luisa Guuta, Piisa Kpasaasa, Kasiesa Yemona communities in the Builsa South District, Missiga, Kutanga, Sagabo Naa Gbewa Primary, Asikiri School also in the Bawku Municipality.
The rest of the beneficiary communities are Ayopia, Nyariga Nayire, Atakurum communities also in the Bongo district. At a symbolic ceremony at Sagabo Naa Gbewa Primary School in the Bawku Municipality to hand over the 10 boreholes, the Executive Director of the GNPC Foundation, Dominic Eduah, said the provision of the boreholes were based on a need assessment of the communities.
Mr. Eduah explained that the foundation was the CSR arm of the GNPC pivoted on three thematic units namely, education and training, economic empowerment and environment and social amenities.
Speaking on behalf of the Upper East Regional Minister, Paulina Patience Abayage, the Municipal Chief Executive for Bawku, Hajia Hawa Ninchimah, expressed her gratitude to the GNPC Foundation for the provision of the boreholes for the communities, saying it will go a long way to improve on the standard of living of the people.
She urged the beneficiary communities of the water project to take good care of the facility to expand its life span. Water is ranked second to oxygen as essential element for life, more than half of the human body weight is made of water. This explains why it is very important for life on earth.
Story filed by Emmanuel Akayeti
