Accra Water Not Safe-Hygiene Expert

The principal of Accra School of Hygiene and a Senior Environmental Health Officer, Henry Narteh Adipa has stated that pipe borne water produced in Accra is not safe for drinking. He said when it comes to whole-some water, both pipe borne water and some sachet water produced in Accra and other cities in the country are less below World Health Organization�s (WHO) standard which should contain a PH between 6.5% and 7.5%. Mr. Adipa said potable drinking water should not be turbid, clean from impurities without any floating objects, tasteless, colorless, odorless and should not be sweet, but most of the sachet water and pipe borne water in the country are full of these ingredients. �I know what I am saying is going to create some controversy because some people will think that I am collapsing their businesses, but we are in a country where anything goes or we wait until disaster happens,� he said. In an interview with the Daily Heritage, the principal said not even the conventional water produced by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and the proliferation of mineral water as pure are safe for drinking after going through series of preparation before it reaches the final consumer. �This is because the engineers who constructed the Weija Dam somewhere in 1929, used galvanized pipes which are prone to rusting and corrosion with debris forming foams which are often seen in the water thereby discouraging people from drinking pipe borne water,� he told the paper. He added that currently there is a big war going on between consumers and GWCL over the whole-sameness of their product, because the producers will clear the water as wholesome, but comparatively before it reaches the consumer there will be worms and other particles in it. He attributed the situation to the outbreak of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea and other dangerous cancers discovered in the country because most of the pipes laid get faulty while others are being destroyed by human activities exposing the water to other organisms, bacterial and other chemical contents. Mr. Adipa revealed that boiled water cannot be recommended as wholesome because it only kills the organisms and bacterial content, but no matter the number of hours boiled it cannot kill the chemical component. Touching on rain water and hand dug wells; he classified the two as the most dangerous water source in the country. �Because owners refused to seek professional advice, they end up digging the well attracting faecal matter in the house and other mineral contents such as mercury which caused dental karris and goiter, while rain water looks highly polluted because there is a lot of pollution in the atmosphere.� He, therefore, advised residents to be mindful of the type of water they drink and called on them to treat the water perfectly before drinking.