Health Alert: Residents Drink From Gutter [PHOTOS]

Today can report that residents of Tei-Mensah No. 2, a village near Suhum in the Suhum/Kraboa/Coaltar District of the Eastern region, risk being exposed to a major disease outbreak, following their resort to draw water from a �gutter.� The residents, who do not have access to potable water, have resorted to drawing water from an eroded hole under a cocoa plantation which contains stagnated water. This source of water is a 30-minute walk from the town, Today gathered. The town folks complained they lack water to bath, cook and even wash their clothes. According to the residents, constant rainfall eroded a portion of the town which portion has stored rain water. And that is what has become their source of drinking water. Though, the water from this artificial �stream-like-gutter� stank awfully, residents use it for their household chores. What is even worrying is the fact that the water has tadpoles and frogs in it. Sadly, when our news team got to the area, the village�s only source of water had nearly dried up. Chief of the area, Nana Asare Kwaku II, told Today children from the village do not go to school because they do not have water to bathe with. He stressed that they have to buy sachet water to be able perform certain household chores which practise was taking a chunk of their income. �Even cattle cannot drink water drawn from this town; our children are suffering� They cannot go to school,� he lamented. ��we are therefore appealing to the central government and individuals to come to our aid,� Nana Asare Kwaku II appealed. Aside from the lack of potable water, Today gathered that the entire Tei-Mensah town cannot boast of a school, a Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) compound and even a proper place of convenience. Some residents who spoke to Today disclosed that the town has been plagued with diseases as a result of drinking from the gutter. �We suffer before getting water; our source of water has dried up; even the little we get stinks badly,� a resident disclosed. ��we beg you please help us because we are suffering here; we plead with the leadership of the country to help us� All our children are on admission at the hospital,� a resident sorrowfully remarked. Some pupils who shared their ordeals with this paper stressed that their teachers beat them daily since they always go to school late. Today also discovered that some of the residents travel as far as to Suhum before they can have access to medical care.