N/R: Sagnarigu residents purify water for consumption by using cement
Residents of the Nanton Kpawomo in the Sagnarigu Municipality have been wrestling with the issues of quality drinking water for decades.
The town in the Northern region draw water from a dam and use cement to treat it for consumption for a long while which is dangerous to their health. This dam serves to communities in the Municipality.
Speaking to the press on the issue, the youth chief of the area Zakaria Alhassan said, “At certain point when we do not have money to buy alum, do you know cement can be used for purification? Just fill up your container, the women know how to mix it. They would fetch little sand of cement and mix in the water with their hand, a few minutes later, you’ll see a mixture will appear on the surface of the water which they would collect and throw away,” he said, adding “this is what we’ve been drinking all these years.”
Mr Alhassan said the community is planning to desist from issues of national development as they feel left out considering the challenges his people face.
The only tanker which supply water to the communities cannot be afforded by the inhabitants of the area hence they depend on the water from the muddy dam.
Some of the women who spoke to Starr news said the water that the water tanker brings to the communities is not much different from the one they draw from the dam.
The inhabitants of the area said they usually drink from the muddy water directly when they grow impatient waiting for it to be purified by the cement. They further disclosed that, sometimes they depend on one bath for days before dreaming of another bath.
The two communities, Fou and Taha are having a population of about 1,200 have a four classroom school block as the only infrastructure they can boast of. The classroom blocks also have broken doors and windows.
The structure was put up with the help of an agency for orphans.
However, the parents in the area have refused to allow their children to attend the school saying the children are not orphans.
Bomaha- Naa Sayibu Nindoo, who is a sub chief of the area has said that due to the water crisis, the Palace has decided to take an amount of GH¢300 from landowners among others to draw a safe drinking water to the area.
He said the idea they have adopted is helping and that the community can achieve the project whether the government decides to help or not
He said, “The situation is truly severe; one medium sized container is at a cost of GH¢5, dam water. There is no school building in this community not even a good kiosk (drug store). There is nothing here coming from government. Look at how we are closer to Tamale. Your wife cannot wash and your animals will die if there is no water, and so where is the assistance from government? Sometime ago, government used to intervene in situations like ours, there is no such thing again”.
Ghanaguardian.com
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