Solar Powered Pumps for Rural Water

EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Ghana’s rural communities may soon benefit from solar powered pumps for their water needs, according to the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing (MWRWH), Hon. Alban Bagbin.

It is envisaged that employing of solar energy will go a long way to solve the recurring incidence of the lack of potable water for Ghana’s rural communities as a result of  difficult geological formations and the unavailability of groundwater in some regions, which have dampened the demand for hand dug wells.

Making this known in Accra at a media encounter dubbed Meet-the-Press on Thursday, Hon. Bagbin said the current situation calls for alternative means to provide the communities with potable water.

“Together with the team at the ministry, we are exploring available and affordable technologies such as the use of solar powered pumps to enable them access water at affordable cost,” he divulged.

The Minister earlier indicated that if alternative means are found to provide water for the rural folk, it will also address the gaps that exist in water coverage in the country, saying “We have noted with  a great deal of concern, that the established criteria for the provision of water from point sources to communities, has inadvertently excluded communities with populations of less than 75 people from accessing safe water.”

He said although those communities were originally to be supplied with water from hand dug wells fitted with pumps, their unfavourable terrain has prevented that.

Touching on urban water provision, Hon. Bagbin said water supply in urban communities leaves much to be desired and that while supply has not kept pace with demand, the management of what is available has also come under public scrutiny.

He said it is estimated that the total demand for water in the 81 systems operated by Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), through Aqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL) throughout the country, is 242, 227,040 gallons a day, while production hovers around 142,228,680 gallons a day.

The Minister stated that having realised the challenges many confront daily in accessing water in urban Ghana, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, in collaboration with GWCL, is determined to launch a frontal attack on those challenges.

The Water Resources Minister disclosed that apart from a number of completed projects in Western, Ashanti, Central and Eastern regions, which are ready for commissioning this year, many more ongoing projects will come on stream by the end of the year.

Hon. Bagbin also assured that new projects spread all over the country will be completed between 2012 and 2013, adding, “We believe that after 2013 the pressure on water demand will ease up in many communities in Ghana.”

In respect of this, he intimated that some measures have been taken, which include fast tracking negotiations with investors to add more capacity by building additional plants, particularly in the water distressed regions of  Western, Northern, Upper East and West, Volta and Central, singling out the Western and Central regions for prioritisation, in view of the oil find which has culminated in pressure on water demand.