VRA provides water system for Volta flood victims

The Volta River Authority (VRA) has provided a temporary water pumping station at Aveyime in the Volta Region to facilitate water supply to communities affected by the spillage of the Kpong and Akosombo dams in the North Tongu District.

The facility, with a pumping capacity of 1,800 litres per minute, was deemed necessary after the old pumping station was completely submerged by floodwaters.

As part of a relief programme, the VRA has also deployed 24 mobile toilets to Mepe, New Bakpa, and the Adidome Farm Institute, all in the North and Central Tongu districts, which were all affected by the flood from the dams spillage.

The spillage, which was carried out by the VRA from September 15, has displaced  about 27,000 people, according to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).

Farmlands have also been completely submerged, with growing fears of an increase in poverty level in the affected communities due to the loss of livelihoods of the communities which are known for fishing and farming. 

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is pushing for a parliamentary inquiry to help the victims of the disaster obtain compensation from the VRA.

Presentation

At a ceremony to hand over the facility to community leaders, the Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Services at the VRA, Ken Arthur, said the move was to ensure that the communities would have access to potable drinking water.

The affected communities, which have had their water supplies shut down to avoid contamination and the outbreak of water-borne diseases, have had to rely on the benevolence of VRA, in collaboration with NADMO and other organisations that continue to donate sachet water for their use.

Mr Arthur announced that the VRA would build a permanent pump house and also replace old pipes which had become weak when the flood water receded.

The Secretary of the Aveyime Community Water Board, Daniel Nogodzi, who received the pump house on behalf of the community, commended the VRA for the gesture, and urged the authority to provide the needed assistance to the community and persons affected by the disaster.