Inchaban (W/R) March 24, GNA- The Inchaban Head Works Dam of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has been dredged to expand its water storage capacity, Mr. Emmanuel Ashia, Western Regional Engineer of the Company, said on Monday.

He was speaking to pressmen who visited the Head works as part of a programme of activities organised by the Regional Office of GWCL to mark this year's World Water Day.

Mr. Ashia said the dredging forms part of the Sekondi-Takoradi Water Supply Rehabilitation Project, which is estimated at 272 billion cedis and was undertaken by Dutch Maritime Management Organisation.

He said the dam, built in 1928, has a storage capacity of 380 million gallons but this capacity reduced over the years as a result of accumulation of silt.

Mr. Ashia said the silt had now been removed and the original capacity of the dam had been restored.

Mr. John Abu-Gyansah, Regional Project Engineer of GWCL, said the project also involved the laying of 53 kilometres of trunk main steel pipelines from Daboase to Inchaban and from Inchaban to Effia Water reservoir.

Mr. Abu-Gyansah said the project funded by the Royal Dutch Government also included rehabilitation and refurbishment works at the Daboase Head Works.

He said currently between six and seven million gallons of water is supplied to Sekondi-Takoradi daily but this was expected to increase to about 10 million gallons a day when the project was completed.

Mr. Abu-Gyansah said 75 percent of the two-year project was completed but the whole project would be completed in November this year.

Mr. J. J. K. Azumah, Regional Chief Manager of GWCL, appealed to the public to help to protect water bodies and conserve treated water in their communities.

He said water is important to life and the younger generation must be educated to take good care of water resources because of the rate of pollution and exploitation.

The Journalists also visited the Daboase Head Works and inspected of work on the laying of the pipelines.