The Director of Operations of Aqua Vitens Rand Limited, Mr Cliff Stone, announces that water supply in the city will soon be rationed. Speaking to newsmen in Accra, he said the decision is to ensure equitable distribution of water to all and to ensure conservation. Mr Stone said the exercise is expected to be fully operational after August when interruptions in power supply would have been halted. Aqua Vitens Rand Limited is the consultant for Ghana Water Company Limited. He said the exercise, which had begun in phases in some areas in Accra, would affect the entire city, after the GWCL had issued its rationing schedule. According to him, all towns would be adequately informed of their schedule as done by the Electricity Company of Ghana's power rationing exercise, within six months after August. He stated that the water rationing could only be delayed when the power rationing was prolonged beyond its deadline. Mr Stone also expressed regret about the high number of illegal water connections and leakages, which had resulted in huge financial losses. He said the situation was even more worrying with consumers who had registered for domestic use were actually using the utility for commercial purposes. To reverse the trend, the Operations Director said, government gave backing in the 2007 Budget for the installation of pre-paid meters, adding that a pilot project was underway to study the project. He explained that due to technological and other related difficulties in installation of the meters, the pilot study would verify whether the project would be cost-effective and applicable. Mr Stone also said that Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) consumed high volumes of water and appealed to such agencies to inculcate water conservation methods in their staff to reverse the trend. Mr Cobbie Kessie Junior, Managing Director of GWCL, told the Ghana News Agency that the Company had deployed task force officers who were currently working on the ground to detect all illegal connections. He added that the Company was also in the process of changing old pipelines to solve the leakage problem. Source: GNA