Until last week when they were handed a mechanised water system, residents had to beg the few privileged in the town who had dug wells in their homes, in order to fetch few buckets of untreated water, which they drink and use for everything.
The main source of water for the over 2,500 residents in the town and its environs was streams which have now been polluted by the activities of illegal small scale mining, popularly known as galamsey, in the area.
“We hardly access potable water here at Nsutem, efforts to drill borehole has not materialised. The handful who have ground water too give us too offer us two to three buckets each, you cannot fetch more,” Oforiwaa Dufie, a resident told TV3.
But the plight of the people caught the attention of the SOS Children’s Villages Ghana, a non -governmental organization, which has provided the town with a mechanised water system where residents can have access to potable water at a service charge.
A similar system has been built for the people of Bonsu and Osino in the Eastern Region. Each of the three water systems cost GHC35,000.
The National Communication Director of SOS Children’s Villages Ghana, Nii Commey, said the intervention was to compliment government’s effort, noting that going forward, they would be guided by six of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Speaking at a ceremony to hand over the system, the Fanteakwa District Education Director, Phillip Jacobs, said pupils in the areas would now have no excuse to show up in school late as has been the situation over the years.
The Health Director, Dr Christian Nyarko-Aduamoah, noted that the lack of potable water for the people accounted for typhoid and diarrhoea cases among other ailment in the three areas, adding with the provision of potable water, they expect a reduction of these diseases.
The Fanteakwa District Chief Executive, Abass S. Abass commended SOS Children’s Villages Ghana for the intervention, and urged the managers of the facility and residents to adopt a culture of maintenance.
By: Yvonne Neequaye|3news.com|Ghana