CWSA MARKS 25TH ANNIVERSARY WITH INCREASED WATER COVERAGE 23RD FEB., 2024

The Upper East Region’s regional rural water coverage as of the end of 2023, stood at 63.96 percent of communities served and 36.04 percent of communities under-served.

This revelation came to light at the 25^th Anniversary celebrations of the Community Water Sanitation Agency [CWSA] held in Chiana, a community in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region. The celebrations were themed “25 Years of Sustaining WASH Services: Transforming Rural and Small Towns Water Services Delivery Towards National Development”.

The CWSA was established in 1998 following the launch of the National Community Water and Sanitation Policy [NCWSP] in 1994, charged with the mandate to facilitate the provision of safe drinking water and related sanitation services to Ghanaian Rural Communities and Small Towns.

Upper East Regional Minister, Hon. Stephen Yakubu in his keynote address at the ceremony noted that “access to safe water and sanitation is the most basic human right and necessity around which every facet of development evolves”. He said it is in recognition of the vital roles played by water and sanitation as enablers of economic growth and national development, that the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources “is championing the vision of everyone, everywhere in Ghana to have a clean, adequate, affordable and safe drinking water, decent toilets and good hygiene by 2030” as contained in the Sustainable Development Goal six [6].

Reg. Minister, Hon. Yakubu

Hon. Yakubu observed that 25 years in the life of an institution is no mean achievement and that while the celebrations are marked, it was also the appropriate time “for deeper reflections, stronger partnerships, advocacy and responsiveness among all stakeholders”. He also revealed that in the 25 years’ existence of the CWSA, the country could boast of some 31,388 hand pump boreholes, 383 solar-powered pump boreholes and some 1,924 pipe systems across communities country-wide.

In a speech read for him, the Chief Executive Officer of the CWSA, Mr. Aloysius Adjetey noted that since the launch of the NCWSP in 1994, significant achievements have been made in the water and safe sanitation services sector of the Upper East Region. He disclosed for instance that, some 3,729 boreholes fitted with hand pumps, 543 hand-dug wells also fitted with hand pumps and 83 pipe systems classified under limited mechanized systems, community pipe systems and large scale pipe systems, have been provided for communities in the region.

The CEO said such huge investments in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector of the Upper East Region, led to an increase in the region’s rural water coverage from 24 percent in 1990 to 64.29 percent by end of 2022. Meanwhile during the 25 years of the CWSA’s existence and work, the region was also able to facilitate the installation of 8,519 household latrines and 247 institutional latrines throughout the region which has largely contributed to boosting the health and well-being of the region’s people through the period.

 The Chiana Pio, Pe Ayagitam III Giving His Welcome Ad.

President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs and Paramount Chief for the Chiana Traditional Area, Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam III earlier in his welcome address, thanked the CWSA for choosing his community to host the celebrations. He also commended the CWSA for the tremendous work in providing safe water points for his subjects but noted one of the major challenges the Agency faced, was the collection of revenue due it and thus suggested that, more innovative and modern ways be fashioned out to enable it rake in more revenues for the expansion of services to many communities in Upper East and elsewhere in Ghana.

Pe Ayagitam also used the opportunity to appeal to government through the regional minister, to take urgent action in bringing back to site, the contractor working on the Chuchuliga-Chiana-Tumu road as the abandoning of the project had caused grave damages on the stretch that continuously threaten the lives of motorists.

In his remarks at the event, Kassena-Nankana West DCE Hon. Gerard Ataogye, said since the creation of his district in 2008, the CWSA has been a major stakeholder in the provision of clean drinking water to numerous communities and towns within the district. He revealed for instance that, the Agency has constructed four Small Towns Water Systems in four major towns including Paga, Sirigu, Chiana and Katiu. He observed that currently, three of these water systems were being managed by staff of the CWSA and noted that before their coming on stream, these systems were at the verge of collapsing.