The Accra East Regional Office of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has disconnected 13 illegal water pipelines built by two commercial vendors in the Madina-Adjiringanor Nsamanpom area.

According to the Company, these pipelines were connected without any authorisation and denied residents in the area access to frequent water flow in their homes.

Speaking to the media during a disconnection exercise in the Accra North-East enclave, the Regional Distribution Manager stated that many such illegal connections will be destroyed to help reduce production and system losses.

Paul Akpanya explained that barely two weeks ago, the Non-Revenue Team discovered around the A&C Shopping Mall area that one water supplier had connected five pipes illegally.

“Before we connected the people, we knew the flow and pressure were good, so we do not have to inform them before disconnecting. Therefore, we are not disconnecting the main pipelines.

“We are just here for the illegal connection. We want people to get water in their homes and not buy from those with illegal connections at a high cost. So from today, we can tell you, everybody in this neighbourhood will start getting water,” he said.

Mr Akpanya added that GWCL will need to calculate the total diameter of pipelines illegally fixed to calculate the volumes and the loss run by the Company.

“So we made it a point to find out why we are working very well and supply water according to our management plan, so we didn’t understand why water gets to certain places and not certain areas.

“So our investigation made us find out they have connected illegal pipelines to tanks underground. And once their tank is down, it means the water drains down into the tanks, and the residents whose poly tanks are on their roofs will never get the water,” he explained.

House-to-house audit

At a press briefing on April 11 in Accra, the Water and Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, announced that Ghana Water Company Limited will be embarking on a house-to-house audit to reduce losses and improve water supply.

She stressed that her outfit will ensure that all persons found culpable are made to face the law.

“I know most Ghanaians are honest, but the bad nuts must be exposed. Even the date is a secret one because we don’t want people to look at the schedule; disconnect when we are coming around and connect when we are off.

“It will be a constant sustainable way of making sure we reduce our non-revenue loses with regards to people who do illegal connections and deny other citizens of water,” she said.

Mrs Dapaah said although the nitty-gritty of the project is yet to be concluded, her outfit, together with GWC, will ensure the initiative is executed.

“The details will be worked out. We need to do this; we will not be afraid of those who put ‘Beware of Dogs’ on their doors; we will go in there to find out and cross-check,” she said.