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THERE is a looming danger of an outbreak of cholera and other related water-borne diseases as residents of Bimbilla and its surrounding communities continue to drink from the untreated Waanpu Dam and other dugouts due to lack of potable water.

Bimbilla, a farming community near Yendi in the Nanumba North Municipality of the Northern Region, has a population of over one million people, mostly farmers.

Many communities within Bimbilla township have been hit by acute water shortage for some time now due to inadequate water supply by the Community Water System during the dry season.

Also, taps are not flowing in individual homes to provide potable water due to low voltage situation in the town by the Volta River Authority (VRA).

Low voltage 

The current situation has partly been attributed to low voltage making it difficult for the Community Water System to pump the required underground water for the consumption and use by the people.

The dire situation has compelled some of the inhabitants to rely on untreated water from the Waanpu Dam and an electricity-powered mechanised water system constructed by Alhaji Abdul Salam, a private individual to alleviate the suffering of the people which has also not been flowing well due to low voltage.

Some of the inhabitants end up competing with animals for water at the dam site as well as other water sources.

Waanpu Dam 

What is more disturbing and worrying is that for many years residents as well as students of the Bimbilla Senior High School (SHS) continue to rely on the untreated Waanpu Dam which is situated far away from the community and other sources of drinking water at all times for consumption.

As a result, most of the dwellers, particularly students as well as schoolchildren from other basic schools in the municipality, report to the Bimbilla Government Hospital and other nearby community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound with infections from water-borne diseases.

Despite the health implications and financial burden it poses to the residents, the prevailing circumstances of the lack of potable water still compels the people including children to depend on the untreated water for their daily use.

Yellow gallons 

Many students are seen on daily basis with yellow gallons walking around in search of water while some residents are also seen on motorbikes, tricycles and bicycles searching for water especially at the main Dam area and at the Abdul Salam mechanised water system which is currently not flowing well due to low voltage.

Due to the unavailability of water, a drum of untreated water is sold as high as GH₵ 7 by private water tankers while a yellow gallon of water is also sold between GH₵1 and GH₵2 depending on the size of the gallon.

Worried situation 

When the Daily Graphic visited the town as well as the Waanpu Dam last Saturday, a resident of the area, Fuseina Alidu, a charcoal seller, who was worried about the situation indicated that the absence of potable water in the area had been the major problem facing them and that had affected them negatively.

Collapsed business 

She said aside from the health risks of drinking the untreated water, many businesses that require clean water to thrive such as food joints have collapsed.

She mentioned communities that depended on the Waanpu Dam as Bimbilla, Kpaliga, Naabaayili, Kpabi, Dangbe, Masaka among others.

Mrs Alidu said they have been drinking the untreated water all the time especially during the dry seasons over the years because they had no option.

Unsafe for drinking 

"We have been suffering from this situation for many years. The Waanpu Dam although not safe for consumption we have no other option because there are no treated water anywhere”.

Mohammed Iddrisu, an Assemblyman for the Shirikpamo Electoral Area, who is also a teacher, was worried about the situation and said the people have been drinking the untreated water during the dry seasons over the years because they had no option.

Very risky 

"It is very risky to drink such water which is unsafe as it puts their health in danger and residents continue to battle with getting potable water for some time now,'' he said.

Mr Iddrisu said most of the town folks and students were likely to be infected with water-borne diseases because they continue to drink from the polluted Waanpu Dam and other sources of water both at home and in school.

"We cannot prevent the students from drinking the polluted water because it is the only source of drinking water for the town, the school and the entire community," he stated.

Abdul Wahid Halidu, another Assemblyman for Bakpaba Suhani Electoral Area pointed out that it was unfortunate that the people in the community should be depending on the unsafe water from the dam and was hopeful that the Nanumba North Municipal Assembly would take up the matter and provide them with good and safe drinking water.

He was not too happy about the water situation in the area and appealed to the authorities concerned, especially the government and the assembly to help address the water problem in Bimbilla.

Pregnant women 

He said accessing potable water was a major source of worry to the inhabitants of Bimbilla and its environs and as such, women, pregnant women, lactating mothers and students, on a daily basis, were compelled to trek long distances in search of clean water.

Mr Halidu appealed to philanthropic organisations as well as benevolent individuals to provide the community with more mechanised water systems to address the water problem in the area.

GWL takeover 

The Assemblyman for the Kakuhi Electoral Area, Alhassan Issah Mobila, who was also not happy about the water situation in Bimbilla said it was time for the government to immediately intervene to allow Ghana Water Limited (GWL) to take over the management of water in Bimbilla.

He stated that the Community Water System responsible for the management of water in the area was not doing well but rather they were interested in making huge profit at the expense of the ordinary people in the area.

Low voltage 

When contacted, the Manager of the Bimbilla Community Water System, Ibrahim Sugri Issah blamed the current water situation in the area on low voltage saying that had made it difficult for his outfit to pump more underground water to serve the town well.

"We have challenges with the daily production of water which is due to low voltage as power is not stable but very erratic. We are not able to pump more underground water for the consumption of the town folks.”

Sun 

However, he said "the situation is gradually being addressed, there is currently an ongoing water project at Kpabi and that hybrid pumps will be installed to enable us to make good use of the energy of the sun together with the VRA grid to supplement the situation to enable us to produce adequate water supply to the town," Mr Issah stated.

Mr Issah stated that his outfit was committed to providing underground potable water to communities and the Bimbilla municipality was not an exception.

He appealed to the inhabitants to exercise patience as the assembly would do everything possible to find a lasting solution to the water problem in the area since potable water was a necessity.

Students’ concerns 

A form one student of the Bimbilla Senior High School, Abdulai Rukaya, who was in tears, told the Daily Graphic that every day she and her colleagues will have to roam about particularly in town in search of water and that affected them academically.

"We are roaming about in search of clean water every day and that the situation is affecting teaching and learning in the school.”

"Sometimes we also roam about in search of water at night and therefore we do not attend preps to learn," she stated.

She appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to quickly intervene to address the situation since all the taps in the school were not flowing.

Efforts to get the Headmaster of the school, Abdul Razak Sulemana, to speak to the water situation in the school proved futile.

Writer's email: haruna.wunpini@graphic.com.gh