More than 700,000 residents in parts of the Volta Region, including Sogakope, Sokpoe, Tefle, Dabala, Anloga, Keta, and surrounding communities, are facing a severe water supply disruption following the shutdown of the Sogakope Water Treatment Plant due to extreme turbidity levels in the raw water.
The Volta Regional Chief Manager of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Emmanuel A. Johnson, confirmed that the plant was forced to cease operations on October 15 after water from the Volta River became too turbid for treatment.
“The turbidity has seriously disrupted our operations at the plant,” Mr. Johnson told the Daily Graphic in an interview last Thursday in Ho.
He explained that the problem, which typically occurs during the rainy season, had overwhelmed the plant’s treatment capacity since it was not designed to handle highly turbid water.
According to Mr. Johnson, the Sogakope plant lacks essential components such as a coagulant dosing system, sedimentation tanks, and clarifiers, which are crucial for treating heavily contaminated raw water.
Raw water turbidity levels were measured at 39.4 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU), while treated water recorded 29.4 NTU far above the Ghana Standards Authority’s (GSA) regulatory limit of 5 NTU for potable water.
“Due to the compromised water quality, the plant was shut down at 11:00 on October 15 and will remain out of operation until the raw water quality improves to acceptable levels,” Mr. Johnson stated.
The GWCL, he added, is monitoring the situation closely and working with authorities to supply water via tankers to critical institutions such as schools and hospitals in the affected areas as a temporary measure.
However, when asked about long-term contingency plans if the situation persists, Mr. Johnson was reluctant to speculate, saying:
“We do not want to go to that area now. I do not want to comment on that. The situation will improve.”
Some of the affected areas revealed residents fetching water directly from the river, while others were seen selling untreated water from tricycles to households in Sogakope and nearby communities.
“But it is the same dirty water they fetch from the river to sell to the households,” a health worker in Sogakope lamented, raising concerns about potential waterborne disease outbreaks.