Investigation of intermittent water supply in the Koforidua Municipality

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating the intermittent water supply in the New Juaben Municipality of Ghana. The study adopted the descriptive design. A total of 105 respondents from various consumers were selected through multistage sampling approach to respond to the questionnaire and four (4) staff of Ghana Water Company Limited were selected purposively for interview. Data collected were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) version 16 for the questionnaire and the interviews were presented in narration form. Ghana Water Company Limited in the New Juaben Municipality has one water treatment head works with capacity of 19,200m3 per day. The head works receives a total of 19,200m3 of raw water from two intake points which are from River Volta and River Densu. These two main sources are to ensure continuous raw water supply for treatment throughout the year. The quantity of water supplied from the head works have been found to be 18,200m3 per day whiles the daily water demand for the Municipality is about 13,730.4m3 which is less than the water supplied by the Ghana water company Limited. Intermittent water supply in the municipality is not based on the quantity of water available for supply but other factors such as failure in the network distribution, burst in distribution lines, electricity cut-offs, illegal connection and lack of funds to expand and change the old pipe networks. It is recommended that Ghana Water Company Limited should invest in technology to detect leakages, improved maintenance schedule, engage community members to report water leakages and acts promptly to the reports of citizens after validation of issues reported.