High electricity bills and the introduction of prepaid meters threaten the closure of Small Towns Water Supply Systems, which will deny thousands of Ghanaians in rural areas access to potable water.

Beneficiaries of Small Towns Water Supply Systems pay a token for the water produced.

However, the high electricity bill has increased the cost of production far and above the meagre revenue generated from the small amount paid by beneficiary communities.

The National President of the Association of Small Towns Water Supply Systems, Hamza Zakaria, has expressed worry that the introduction of prepaid meters by the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is affecting their operations as most communities are unable to pay.

According to him, since the introduction of the prepaid meters in 2013, the association has been battling with how to pay their electricity bills.

Mr Zakaria, therefore, appealed to the government to consider reducing the tariffs for Small Towns Water Supply Systems to ensure the sustenance of the system to serve the needs of the rural area.

He said about 44 small town water communities formed the association to co-ordinate the management of the systems to help improve and address challenges in the expansion of the project.

He said the registered communities were in the Ashanti, Western, Brong Ahafo, Northern and Upper East regions.

He called on the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to establish a revolving fund to help the Small Towns Water Supply Systems to pay their debt and also supply water on regular basis.

Under the Small Towns Water Supply Systems, which has hygiene and sanitation components, schools and health institutions are to benefit from institutional latrines, which are gender- and disability-friendly.