Aqua Africa, Sanitation Ministry announce rural water project

The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources in collaboration with Aqua Africa, a United-Kingdom business focused on water access solutions in challenging environments, has announced the confirmation of the 12 small towns selected for the Rural Communities and Small Towns Water Supply Project (RCSTWSP).

The beneficiary towns are located across five regions of Ghana, namely Ashanti, Eastern, Greater Accra, Volta and Oti Regions.

The towns are Achiase, Ayensuano, Kwahu Afram Plains South, Kwahu West, Bosomtwe, Kwabre East, Bekwai, Bosome Freho, Ga West, Krachi East and Nkwanta North.

Water Source, White Volta

Project

Aqua Africa in a press release shared that each region will have a centralised water system delivering potable water to satellite communities. The UK water access solutions company will provide pipe water systems to the 12 nominated small towns across Ghana, each serving an average population of 16,000 people.

Every system will comprise the development of ground and/or surface water source, photo-voltaic power supplies and solar pumps, transmission and distribution pipe networks, elevated/ground storage tanks, public standpipes and provision for private connections. Additionally, smart metering and revenue collection will be installed for both public standpipes and/or private connections as well as the application of innovative technology and financing methods to generate pay as you fetch revenue to take care of maintenance and future expansion of the water systems.

The RCSTWSP project is designed to increase access to safe and reliable water supply across the selected regions, and forms part of a larger programme to accelerate the delivery of water facilities and services in unserved rural populations.

Using proven UK-designed technology and systems delivered by Aqua Africa, the project will supply clean drinking water for up to 280,000 people in rural communities and small towns.

The project aims to alleviate daily water poverty in alignment with the UN’s 6th Sustainable Development Goal regarding access to clean water and sanitation, and deliver on the Government of Ghana’s ‘Water for All’ policy.

The communities were verified at both national and regional levels via preparatory activities including the development and pre-testing of data capture templates, training of regional Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) staff on data collection, mobilisation of logistics for water sampling and identification of laboratories for water quality testing.

"Working with the Hon. Minister Mrs. Cecilia Dapaah from The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, alongside the Ministry of Finance, the project has been designed in partnership with Aqua Africa and CWSA to ensure an approach that will meet the Ghana Government’s ‘Water for All’ policy," the release said.

“The fulfilment of our basic human needs in our environment is essentially dependent on adequate clean water,” shared Hon. Cecilia Dapaah. “The Government of Ghana is poised to provide Water for All. Ghana’s ‘Green Agenda’ in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals is on course with the Aqua Africa Water Project. Increasing water coverage requires a consistent investment on year-to-year basis since population growth and demand for water keeps increasing. That is why we welcome wholeheartedly the investment in the Aqua Africa Project.”

Aqua Africa brings a value of €30 million to the water sanitation project, that is 100% funded by UK Export Finance & HSBC, and accredited as a Green Loan – the first-ever green loan financed project in Africa.