The Daboase Water Treatment Headworks in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis is to be expanded to produce 22 million gallons of water a day to meet the growing demand resulting from the rise in the population of residents of the metropolis.

The project is being undertaken jointly by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).

The Daboase Water Headworks, which was constructed in 1996, has the capacity to produce six million gallons of water a day for residents of  the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis.

But it is now producing less than four million gallons a day as a result of the activities of illegal gold miners, popularly called ‘galamsey’, on the River Pra, which is the main source of raw water for the treatment plant.

The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda, made this known  when he visited the Daboase and Obosomase water intake points of the GWCL on the River Pra and the Inchaban Dam in the Western Region as a follow up to President John Dramani Mahama’s recent visit to the Daboase Water Headworks.

During the President’s visit, he had expressed his dissatisfaction with the situation where people were dredging the intake point of the treatment plant.

Following the visit, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing engaged Zoomlion (GH) to use its excavator to dredge the intake point of the Daboase Water Headworks to enhance the treatment and distribution of water to the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis.

Before the President’s intervention, the Daboase Water Headworks was producing about 2.8 million gallons of water a day, far below its capacity of six million gallons a day.

But after the dredging of the water intake point, the headworks has increased its production of water to more than four million gallons a day.

Alhaji Dauda said the ministry was looking for investors to partner it and the GWCL for the expansion of the water project at Daboase.

He said some companies had submitted their proposals which were being assessed by the ministry for recommendation to Cabinet for approval.

He said the excavator would continue to dredge the Daboase intake point until the ministry was satisfied that the Daboase Water Headworks could produce more than five million gallons of water a day.

The Western Regional Chief Manager of the GWCL, Mr Daniel Muomaalah, explained that as result of the high turbidity (muddy nature) of the River Pra, more chemicals were needed to treat a quantum of water.

Again, he said the high turbidity  of the water had contributed to the frequent breakdown of the pumps.

Mr Muomaalah said pumping water from the Obosomase intake point would help the company achieve its capacity of six million gallons of water a day, since the pumps at Obosomase had high capacity.

Source: Daily Graphic