Water scarcity has been a persistent issue in some communities in the Kasena-Nankana Municipality and Kasena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region.

Despite interventions over the years from government and charity organizations, residents in some communities in these areas often travel long distances to fetch water from unreliable sources.

This has led to various health concerns, including waterborne diseases and sanitation issues.

The rural communities there are typically scattered settlements as most of the lands are reserved for farming.

Sometimes the landscapes stretch as far as the eye can see and with just about one source of reliable water supply for the hundreds or even thousands of residents living in these communities, some have to walk the long distance to get water.

Those who cannot make the journey must resort to other sources such as shallow wells, dugouts, rivers, or even dams to get water.

Mariam Adongo, a member of the Mirigu-Pungubisi community in the Kasena-Nankana West district told JoyNews that getting water for their household chores has been extremely difficult over the years.

“We walk long distances to streams and rivers to get water. Even when our children are going to school, they have to walk about five kilometres to look for water to bathe before they can go to school”, she said.

In the wet seasons, frequent rains also allow the residents to harvest clean water for their homes.

But in the dry seasons, even some of the boreholes constructed by the government fail to provide water because there is usually none underground due to the very high temperatures.

At the Kafania community in Chiana, their borehole stopped producing water about a year ago, leaving the residents with no reliable source of water.

The district chief executive for Kasena-Nankana West, Gerard Atoagye describes the situation as challenging.

“The water table [in the district] is very poor [making it difficult to drill boreholes]. If I tell you [about] the interventions the government has made in the water sector in the district, you will marvel.

"A lot has been done but we have not been able to cover every area in the district. We have a very large district”, he said.

Some help has however arrived as community development, NGO, Engage Now Africa in partnership with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has constructed mechanized boreholes for five areas with extremely dire water scarcity problems in the Kasena – Nankana Municipality and Kasena-Nankana West District.

The beneficiary areas include Manyoro, Yua, and Gumango in the Kasena-Nankana Municipality as well as Kafania-Adognia, and Mirigu-Pungubisi in the Kasena-Nankana West District.

Thousands of people in these communities can now access clean and safe drinking water.

The mechanized boreholes, equipped with solar-powered pumps and storage tanks, will provide a sustainable solution to the water needs of these communities.

The Africa Director for Engage Now Africa, Cecilia Amankwa said the main objective of the projects was to reduce the drudgery women and children have to endure looking for water.

“We brought the water to your communities so that your children can come early, fetch water for their shower so that they can go to school early. We do not want children to go to school tired. Do not deny your children education”, she told a crowd of residents at the Gumango community.

The projects aim to improve the health, hygiene, and overall well-being of the residents; particularly women and children who bear the brunt of water scarcity.

A Humanitarian Specialist at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Ezra Taft Ottoo, said the church has the broader aim of improving self-reliance in the communities and hence, the projects.  

“These are solar-powered boreholes so the communities are going to use their resource which is sunlight to power the solar cells which will in turn, pump water into the 5000-liter tanks”, he said.

The communities are ecstatic about their new boreholes.

“If you have given us water, you have given us life and nothing can be compared to what you have done for our community”, the chief of Mirigu-Pungubisi said to the donors.

Engage Now Africa and the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints hope to shortly, bring more interventions to communities in the Upper East Region.