Residents of Taha in the Tamale Metro Depends On Unhygienic water Due to shortage

Residents of Taha,  a farming community in the Northern Region have complained of not having access to frequent pipe-born water.

According to them, they mostly depend on the dam for their household chores and farming activities.

Most people in this part of the North are peasant farmers who produce food for the entire country yet the availability of water to nurture their crops as their livelihood is a major challenge.

Some of the affected residents trek to nearby areas in search of pipe water each passing day, whilst some take advantage of the rainwater by collecting water when it rains. Sadly, it hardly rains in that community.

Visiting some of the dams, our team spotted both women and children fetching the water from the polluted dam which is not even healthy for animals to drink from yet residents told that it is their only option.

They indicated that they use the water to bathe, wash, and sometimes cook but before they employ it for their house chores, the water goes through processes of treatment in their homes which sometimes includes the addition of chemicals. 

Hajara Alhassan, a Junior High School student who was seen wearing her school uniform also mentioned that "they hardly find time to study after school hours because they have to provide water for their parents and due to the distance from their houses to the Dam, they mostly finish with their chores late and they get very tired to study."

She bemoaned further that, "waste materials including metabolic waste from animals and humans and plastic waste are normally seen in the dam so it makes it very unhealthy for human consumption."

They pleaded to the Government and the Ghana Water Company to come to their aid, until then,  they would have no other option than to continue to wallow in the predicament.

They also pleaded to Non-Governmental Organizations to come to their aid with support.

Stephen Amoah, Northern Region