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Residents of Diare, a farming community in the Savelugu Municipality in the Northern Region, last Tuesday heaved a sigh of relief following the commissioning of a mechanised water facility to provide water for the community and its environs.
The community has been facing a water crisis for the past years, compelling the residents to compete with livestock for water in nearby dugouts. It becomes more worrying during the dry season when all dugouts within the area dry up.
With the new water facility, the residents would now have access to potable water and would no longer waste productive hours in search of water every day. Constructed and inaugurated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in partnership with the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the facility is expected to serve about 1,000 people in the community and its surroundings.
It has a storage facility and about four fetching points dotted across parts of the community to ensure easy access.
Commissioning the facility, the Resident Representative of ECOWAS in Ghana, Ambassador Baba Gana Wakil, said the basic aim of ECOWAS was to serve the interest of the deprived citizens in the communities.
He indicated that the regional body had undertaken some humanitarian projects in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector to improve the living conditions of communities.
"We have dug some boreholes in other places and this is to show that ECOWAS is not only about heads of state meetings but to serve the grass roots. “It is not only flood victims that we support but we also look up to the needs of deprived communities," he said.
While expressing the continuous commitment of ECOWAS in bringing development to the doorstep of community members, Ambassador Wakil admonished the people to take proper care of the facility to ensure its longevity.
For his part, the Northern Regional Director of NADMO, Abdallah Salifu, said the project was in line with Sustainable Development Goal Six (SDG 6) which aimed at improving clean drinking water and sanitation for all.
He added that it would reduce the usual stress and frustrations the people went through in search of water for domestic purposes. He noted that the water facility would go a long way to address health issues associated with drinking untreated water.
Alhaji Salifu, however, appealed for more projects, as several communities in the region were facing similar water crises. The Municipal Chief Executive of Savelugu, Ayishetu Seidu, lauded ECOWAS and NADMO for the intervention and pledged to ensure the regular maintenance of the facility.
