Obo-Kwahu, Feb 11, GNA - Ten schools and the Kwahu Government Hospital on the Kwahu Ridge are facing acute water shortage following the breakdown of the 30-year-old pumping machine and treatment plant at Kotoso.

The situation had forced students and staff of the educational institutions, the hospital and citizens on the ridge to collect water from streams and shallow wells. This came to light when the GNA visited a number of second-cycle schools, the Kwahu Government Hospital and some communities on the ridge to find out the water situation due to the long harmattan season this year.

The schools said they have to spend between 1.5 and two million cedis a week to buy water from private water tankers to prepare meals for the students while the hospital also spends 1.4 million cedis a week on water for its operations.

Some students have called for the closure of the schools until the water situation improved since the purchasing of mineral water for consumption was draining their pockets.

When the District Manager of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Mr Edwin Thompson Boateng was contacted, he said the company had ordered parts of the plant from Britain.