Regional News of Thursday, 11 February 2010

Source: GNA

Treatment of water at Weija is expensive - Chemist

Accra, Feb. 11, GNA Mr Hadisu Alhassan, the Station Chemist at the Weija Weija Water Works, said treatment of water at the facility was expensive due to the pollution of the water from upstream. He said treatment at the station cost 2.8 billion cedis a month which was far expensive than that of water treatment at the Kpone station. Mr Alhassan disclosed this when the board of directors of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), paid a familiarization visit to the Weija station on Friday in Accra.

He blamed the pollution of the water on the ever growing settlement along the banks of the river. Briefing the board members on the recent damage at the station, Mr Alhassan said, four electric pumps that pump water from the Densu River into the treatment plant at Weija stopped working when the air valve at the station blew up and allowed water to spill over into the electric panels that supply power to the pumps.

He said the engineers at the station tried to restart the pumps but they could not and that they could not also detect the exact damage. Mr Alhassan said, although the problem had been solved they needed the right components to since it was a interim measure. Mr. Arnold H. K. Seshie, Acting Board Chairman of the GWCL, expressed appreciation to engineers at GWCL and Aqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL) who teamed up to work on the four water pumps that were damaged at the station. He said the management would take steps to help build the capacity of worker often to be able to solve future challenges that may occur. Mr. Seshie advised workers to regularly conduct routine maintenance on the equipment to prevent breakdown of machines to enable consumers enjoy portable water.