Water  they  say is life and  it is the basic necessity of life but for the residents of Ekumfi  Obidan, access to clean drinking water is an elusion.

Ekumfi Obidan is  a farming  community near Mankessim in the Central Region.

The community is said to have been in existence since the 18th century,  but several efforts to persuade successive governments to provide its people with safe drinking water has not been heeded to.

A philanthropist tried to construct a borehole for the community but hit a deadlock as the water from the borehole was too salty for human use.

School children, cover long distances in search of water from streams which are contaminated.

Four years ago Ghana Water Company Limited laid an underground  pipeline through the outskirts of the town which saw a nearby community supplied with water but not Ekumfi Obidan.

Spokesperson of the community Nana Kwesi Attah said the development forced Elders of the community to demand explanation from the Mfantseman Municipal Water Office.

They were assured that the community would be supplied potable water when the Ekumfi Water Project is completed.

Now that the project has delayed and and the new deadline not known, residents still rely on the contaminated water which health authorities have warned them  not to use.