Gains made in Water and
Sanitation programme threatened
Ho, Nov. 29, GNA- Gains made in more than
10-years of Community Water and Sanitation
scheme in the Volta region risked being eroded.
Power struggle, lack of accountability and
absence of community support, slack supervision
and absence of bye-laws among others threatened
to erode "the culture of operation and
maintenance of water facilities, hygiene and
environmental sanitation behaviour change
promotion in the beneficiary communities."
Mr Emmanuel F. Boateng, Volta Regional Director
of the Volta Region Community Water and
Sanitation Agency (VRCWSA), sounded the alarm in
a speech read for him at the Water and
Sanitation day celebration in Ho on Wednesday.
The celebration was under the theme, "The
sustainability of water and sanitation
facilities in the communities: the role of Water
and Sanitation Committees (WATSAN) and Water and
sanitation Development Boards".
Mr Boateng said the celebration was appropriate
as it provided the platform for all stakeholders
in the scheme to take stock and review their
attitudes towards the success of the project.
The Water and Sanitation Committee concept came
into being as part of the Danish International
Development Agency (DANIDA's) Volta Region Rural
Water and Sanitation Agency (VRRWSA) project
started in 1993.
The Committees were expected to reflect
community ownership and management of especially
rural water schemes funded by DANIDA.
In a speech read for him, Mr Mawutor Goh, Ho
Municipal Chief Executive said, to date, the
project had provided 206 boreholes, 28 pipe
schemes, 12 hand dug wells, 82 institutional
latrines and 1,284 household latrines in the Ho
municipal area.
He said the Water Boards and Water and
Sanitation (WATSAN) Committees concept helped
tremendously in ensuring the maintenance of such
facilities.
Mr Goh observed that, "before the inception of
the concept in 1993, almost all water and
sanitation facilities that had broken down never
got back into use and out of use after one to
three years of construction".
He said the water and sanitation coverage in the
Ho municipal area now stood at 51 percent for
water and 21 percent for sanitation as against
13 percent and 4 percent respectively in 1993.
Mr Goh said the overall growth stood at 38
percent and 17 percent respectively over the
past 12 years.
He expressed concern that the donor agencies'
seeming lack of interest in assisting to
increase sanitation facilities in the municipal
area "would at the end erode every gain achieved
in the provision of adequate and safe water in
the municipality and the region as a whole".
Mr Goh therefore, appealed to the Programme
Office and donor agencies to show more interest
in the provision of sanitation facilities to the
rural communities to improve on their health
status.
GNA
