The Ghana Water Company Limited has started a nationwide exercise to retrieve arrears owed by customers.

The exercise, which started last Monday, is to enable the company to mobilise resources for its operation.

In a statement signed by the Chief Manager in charge of Public Relations and Communications, Mr Stanley Martey, and issued in Accra, the GWCL said disconnection teams had been set up at the various regions and district offices to disconnect all categories of customers whose bills were in arrears.

Apart from disconnecting defaulters, the task forces would check illegal connections, self-reconnections and the use of in-line booster pumps at customer’s premises, the statement said.

All persons found to be engaged in such criminal activities shall be handed over to the police for prosecution, the statement added.

“Disconnected customers will be made to pay their bills in full, together with reconnection fees, before they are reconnected. We, therefore, advise our valued customers to make efforts to pay their bills and clear all arrears to avoid being disconnected,” the statement stressed.

Multiple payment platforms

Paid up customers, the statement said, required to leave their payment receipts behind when leaving their homes (premises) to avoid wrongful disconnections.

Similarly, customers who had paid via mobile money or other electronic means would need to show SMS payment receipts as proof of payment.

“Payments of water bills can be made at all Ghana Water Company Limited offices and Revenue Collection Points, via mobile money payments such as Vodafone cash, MTN Momo, AirtelTigo cash, Slydepay, Express pay and all GWCL partnered banks across the country,” the statement said.

The water company urged customers to “follow the mobile money payment process on their networks and pay your bills in comfort”.

The management also entreated customers to cooperate with the teams undertaking the exercise in the effort to collect and mobilise the much-needed revenue to improve on water supply service in the country.

Demand management

In an interview, Mr Martey observed that the high demand in water supply had resulted in low velocity and erratic flow in some areas.

Additionally, he said those living in hilly areas in the country were faced with such challenges due to the effect of gravity.

Under normal circumstances, Mr Martey said the distance from the main line to a customer’s premises was not supposed to be more that 120 metres.

However, he said, some individuals went contrary to that and tapped into the supply from their neighbours and that mostly ended up reducing the pressure.

“Customers who want water have to see experts from the GWCL because they can connect to the shortest possible distance to get the needed pressure.

“The pipe that goes into the homes is the 3/4-inch pipeline and if people tap into it, it reduces the pipe pressure,” Mr Martey explained.

He said the company was managing the high demand to ensure that each household connected to the system got water, at least for four days on the average.