PURC acts to mitigate effect of water rationing on public

THE Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) has asked the Ghana Water Company (GWC) to furnish it with all the details of the company’s planned rehabilitation of the Weija Water Treatment Plant by February 1, 2013. The GWC has announced a rationing of water to some parts of Accra and Tema as a result of its scheduled rehabilitation works. The problem arose because the filter beds which were used as the final water treatment point had developed cracks.The cracks do not also allow the sand, used as part of the filtrating process to sip through the cracks. Water, therefore produced under such circumstance was not good for human consumption. But the PURC, as part of its obligation to protect the interest of consumers, today made the demand to enable the commission to monitor and also ensure that such rehabilitation works did not adversely affect consumers . A member of the commission, Mr Alex Bonney, who made the demand during a tour of the Weija Water Treatment Plant, expressed surprise that the company could come out to talk of rationing water to some parts of the country without giving recourse to the commission. Members of the commission in the company of reporters, toured the site to ascertain for itself the claim by the water company that three of its 12 water filtration systems were down, while another defective one was being managed. According to the GWC, the defects had given rise to a shortage of 20 per cent of water production, representing 10 million gallons of water produced daily. The PURC is an independent regulatory body that oversees the provision of the highest quality of electricity and water services to consumers. Its key functions include monitoring and enforcing standards of performance for provision of utility services; providing guidelines for rates to be charged for the provision of utility services; examining and approving water and electricity rates and protecting the interest of consumers and provision of utility services. Mr Bonney, who had in a previous meeting with the GWC chastised the company, explained that the commission would not renege on its responsibility to secure the interest of the consuming public while ensuring that the company was given its fair share of what it was due. According to the GWC, three out of its 12 filtration points were damaged and explained that the contract for the reconstruction of the filtration points would be awarded in a month’s time. The Managing Director of the company, Mr Kweku Botwe told the Daily Graphic that as to when the contractor would complete the work “we can’t tell. It could be two weeks or six months. He insisted that “nobody had mentioned six months as the period that the rehabilitation will be completed”. He noted that the company was already rationing water in some parts of Accra for the past eight months and that with the challenge, those who had been getting water for seven days would enjoy it for about five days. Explaining further, Mr Irenious Buule, the Chief Manager for Accra Tema Projects, said it would take a month for the bidding process to be completed after that the contractor would come out with the design and the time to complete work. He explained that it would be in the interest of both the consumer and the company for the contractor to do a thorough job.