A ruptured 21-inch metal pipe, which supplies water from the Kpong treatment plant to the Accra-Tema Metropolitan area, has spilled large volumes of treated water into some areas in the Kpong community for over one year, resulting in the flooding of farms and homes. This situation has also created a huge hollow over a mass of land at Apisco, a suburb of the town. This pipeline is different from the 42-inch pipeline which got perforated recently causing the supply of water to Accra to cease. However, while residents of the affected areas have firmly declared that the problem had existed for more than two years authorities of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) insist that it has not been that long. Derrick Adoka and Ebenezer Tekper, both residents of Apisco, told the Daily Graphic that the problem had existed for more than two years. They disclosed that in the two years, the GWCL had fixed the problem once but just after a few weeks, the problem recurred and had persisted till now. Comfort Naana Nortey, a teacher, revealed that her son nearly got drowned about a year ago in the area when he went there with a group of friends to take a look at the problem. The Station Manager of the Kpong Headworks, Mr Ebo Akwandoh, told the Daily Graphic that he was not aware that the pipe had burst. He pointed out that he took up his post in February this year and a month after, his attention was drawn to the problem, but he had it fixed. “I do not know that the problem had resurfaced,” he said. He said the company had pipeline inspectors whose duty it was to examine GWCL pipelines all over the country and repair breakages and bursts, adding that it was difficult for them to be everywhere at every time. Mr Akwandoh said most of the GWCL pipelines had kept so long a time and had gotten weak hence the frequent bursts, adding that replacing them was capital intensive. He conceded that the burst was affecting water supply to Accra and Tema, but not as much as it had been from the 42-inch pipe. He assured the public that contaminated water could not seep back into the pipe because of the high pressure in it. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana