The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Freda Akosua Prempeh, who said this on Monday, [February 5, 2024] explained that the exercise had become necessary because perception of water safety in Accra had raised concerns as a result of the uptick in the reliance.

The exercise would be piloted in the Adentan and Ga West Municipalities in the Greater Accra Region.

“Due to the constantly expanding population, the region being an urban one is experiencing a significant rise in water consumption. Numerous commercial and industrial operations are located in the municipalities, which contributes to the increased demand for water,” she explained.

“A combination of public and private boreholes, piped water, and other water sources make up the municipality's water supply system,” she added.

Therefore, the exercise, the minister said would allow the commission to assess and monitor groundwater quality, identify and mitigate threats to groundwater (if any) and educate and engage local communities in sustainable groundwater practices.

She added that it would also give them the opportunity to educate citizens on water safety from abstraction to storage, support policymakers with data-driven insights, facilitate collaboration between governmental bodies, NGOs, and local communities and enhance infrastructure for water safety.

No reason to panic

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources also urged the public not to panic, highlighting that the exercise was only proactive and within its mandate of ensuring that people had access to quality water.

She equally urged borehole and well owners outside the catchment areas to reach out preemptively to the ministry and commission to have their water tested.

Ms Prempeh also advised people thinking of having boreholes and wells to contract registered companies because those companies were required by law to test samples of the water before allowing consumption.

That, she said, enabled the ministry and commission to have accurate information with regards to water quality and act proactively to protect them if need be.

Methodology

Ms Prempeh said that said officials carrying ID cards and wearing WRC-branded vests would be deployed to the various communities to take samples of the groundwater sources.

They would employ state-of-the-art technologies for well installation and monitoring and use remote sensing and GIS technologies to facilitate efficient data collection and analysis.

She said the commission would also collaborate with local authorities and Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to employ a Data Management System which would use a centralised system to store and manage the collected data.

She, therefore, called the public to be welcoming to the officials and also on politicians, public office holders, NGOs, religious leaders and any institution who have created mechanised boreholes for communities across the country to contact the ministry or the commission to have them tested.