SAVELEGU RESIDENTS CRY FOR POTABLE WATER (BACK PAAGE)

Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Savelugu

RESIDENTS of Savelugu in the Savelugu/Nanton District of the Northern Region at the weekend embarked on a massive demonstration to press home their demand for potable water.
The peaceful demonstration was dominated by women and children, who often bear the daily burden of searching for water for domestic use in the district, which is reputed to having the highest cases of guinea worm disease in the country.
The aggrieved residents marched through the principal streets of Savelugu with some carrying placards with the inscriptions “we have suffered for long, we need potable water now,” “what crime have we committed to deserve this neglect?” “our children and women have suffered enough pain; we need relief now”.
People in the area have suffered perennial water shortages over the years, compelling them to resort to the use of unhygienic water to survive, for which reason the guinea worm disease still thrives in the district despite various interventions.
A 28-year-old housewife, Azara Mahama, said “sometimes I spend the whole day with my children searching for potable water because we are tired of drinking the unwholesome water from the dams from which my entire family have suffered from guinea worm infestation”.
A 14-year-old boy who is out of school, Fatawu Issah, explained that he decided to join the demonstrators because “we heard that the assembly was charging water tanker drivers who sell to us at exorbitant prices”.
However, the District Chief Executive, Alhaji Abubarkari Atori, explained that his outfit in collaboration with UNICEF had provided a purifying machine at a dam at Libga in Savelugu.
Treated water from the dam is stored in an overhead reservoir from where water tankers draw water from for onward sale to the public in addition to some mechanised boreholes.
According to the chief executive, the tanker drivers only paid GH¢2 for a full tank which some of the drivers had protested against. And it was believed some of the aggrieved drivers had incited the people to demonstrate.
Alhaji Atori said in the interim, the assembly had recruited guards to protect the existing dams in the district and also provided water filters to almost every household to prevent them from contracting the guinea worm disease.