Residents Drink Dirty Water

Residents of Mpehuasem, a farming community in the Ga West Municipality in the Greater Accra region, are calling on government and non-governmental organizations to, as a matter of urgency, assist them construct at least a borehole to alleviate the plight of residents in the area.

The community with a population of about one thousand lacks access to potable water and the residents suffer a daily ordeal of accessing drinking water from nearby contaminated streams which has resulted in the spread of skin diseases.

Currently, only three streams-Abotre, Apesika and Asukitowa serve as sources of drinking water during the raining season, but dry up when the rains subside, leaving them with no other option than to buy water from Samsam, a nearby community.

Residents who cannot afford to buy water fall on the Abotre River, the only source of water during the dry season.

Speaking to the DAILY HERITAGE, a resident and a teacher in the community, Joseph Danquah revealed that, Mpehuasem is among one of the communities battling the Buruli ulcer disease in the municipality due to the contaminated sources of water.

He said on daily basis, pupils attend school late because they had to walk long distances in search of water.

Mr. Danquah said the only borehole serving the community died a long time ago and ever since, both teachers, residents and pupils had to rely on water from the streams, a situation he said has accounted for almost two-thirds of the teachers living outside the community.

He said the only school in the community is currently experiencing serious challenges, as one class; with a population of 26 pupils rely on only one reading book which runs through all the upper classes and the Junior High School with no library to keep the few books they have.

“In this global age when Information Communication Technology has become the order of the day, the only two computers supplied to the school are decaying due to lack of space to fix them,” he stated.
The teacher said because the school has no teacher's bungalow, two-thirds of their teachers live far away from the school which sometimes affects the school's time-table.

Mr. Danquah is, therefore, appealing to private organizations and individuals to assist the community and also support the school in order to train the kids to become future leaders.