Mr Mohammed Ibrahim Adoko, Principal Planning and Investment Analyst, Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) has called for the pursuit of the “pay-as-you-fetch” method for raising funds to meet the financial requirements of operations and maintenance of potable water in rural areas.

The “pay- as- you- fetch” method would be a system which would ensure that people in rural areas pay for the water they fetch as done in some urban areas.

Mr Adoko said this on Thursday during the National Dissemination of CWSA Operational Documents on making water available to Ghanaians.

He said the ‘pay- as-you-fetch” would ensure that the poor and the vulnerable in our societies also had access to potable water.

He noted that also though they would be required to pay for the water, it would be better than to allow them consume untreated water which also had its own side effects.

He called for the implementation of measures to map out the UN-served and partially served populations to provide a basis for feasibility studies in determining the cost for reaching such other areas.

“I will also advocate for the development and test of innovative products to finance the capital maintenance of small town piped water supplies and rural point sources”, he added.

“I will again ask for the development of systems and mechanisms for community, public and private partnerships for capital maintenance financing that would motivate the private sector to partner with MMDAs to respond to the maintenance of systems of rural water provision”

He appealed to MMDAs to engage in asset management, including asset planning, routine and preventive maintenance, and major repairs of potable water machines in their localities to prevent them from total damage or total breakdown.

He cited community management issues, finance, poor records on existing water systems, and inadequate post construction support as some of the challenges to the sustainability of CWSA water projects in rural areas.

Mr Emmanuel Gaze, Director, Technical Services, CWSA, noted that although several documents had been developed to shape the implementation of the National Community Water and Sanitation Programme (NCWSP), their inaccessibility had resulted in uncoordinated ways of doing things by stakeholders.

He said the document which was launched would contribute to the promotion of quality services delivery, enhance the processes that would ensure adequate planning, monitoring and sustainability of water and sanitation interventions at all levels.

“Basically, the publication of the operational documents is to ensure harmonization and adherence to Ghana standards and guidelines in the rural Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector”, he added.