The Plight of a Community, Whose Source of Drinking Water is Infested With Animal Dung, Engine Oil

The only source of water for the residents of Alico Down

Whenever stories such as residents sharing their source of drinking water with animals and various indiscriminate human activities are told, the first impression would be that such people would be living in the hinterlands.

Some residents claimed that on most cases, taxi drivers and waste drivers wash their vehicles just in the middle of the stream, making the water very dangerous for human consumption. This is the plight of about 300 residents living in Alico down, an area in Odupong Ofaakor - one of the biggest suburbs of Kasoa in Awutu Senya East District of the Central Region.

Commercial drivers from Odupong Ofaakor to Kasoa charge Ghc1.60p. However, many of the residents in this area cannot get access to portable water like their counterparts in Kasoa. Some of them rely on rain water and transported water (polytank) for most of their domestic purposes.

But what if it does not rain for a long while, how do they get water? Some residents said they resort to “pure water for their domestic chores. However, some said it’s not every day they can purchase pure water or transported water for their domestic chores. Thus, most of them draw water from this stream, the only source of water for the community which is infested with animal dung and engine oil, for most of their domestic chores including drinking.       

 

A taxi driver washes his car in the stream

Some residents claimed that the Assemblyman of Ofaakor Electoral Area Mr. Andrews Addo Quainor is aware of their predicament, but has not paid a listening ear to them. The head pastor of Trust Gate Dominion Ministry Mr. Albert Owusu said “since the time we voted for him, we have not seen him again. What we know is that as an elected leader, we expected him to be responsive to our problems by coming to us to be abreast with our problems and not the people going to you”, he stressed.  

Another resident Madam Hannah Anning added that it is very unfortunate for residents in a town very close to the Weija Lake in Accra to share their only source of water with animals. “However, as the dry season approaches, it will be difficult for us to get water like this one to drink”, she lamented. 

When contacted, the assemblyman stated that the perennial water crisis is not a problem facing residents at Alico Down alone, but the whole of Ofaakor in general and he is doing his best to ensure they have portable water. Asked whether he has paid no listening ear to the plight of the people, he stated that was not the case.

 

Mr. Andrews Addo Quainor, Assemblyman for Ofaakor Elec. Area

“It is not that I have paid listening ear to their worries. I have done what I should do about it. It is left to the assembly to take actions on the proposal and the letters that I sent them”, Mr. Quainor stated.   

He added that people who wash their cars, including waste management vehicles will be identified and talked to in order to put a stop to this unfortunate behaviour.

A nine year old class five pupil of Einsten International School in Odupong Ofaakor Emmanuel Narh stated that whenever the stream overflows its banks after a downpour, the place becomes impassable making it very difficult to cross to the other side. He narrated that this is affecting his education.

Some residents fetching the "dirty" water

They are appealing to government, various philanthropists and Non-Governmental Organisations to come to their aid by providing them with portable drinking water and some essential basic necessities. 

https://www.modernghana.com/news/816000/the-plight-of-a-community-whose-source-of-drinking-water-is.html