Gbewa Palace takes steps to address perennial water shortage in Yendi

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Gbewa Palace, the seat of Yaa Naa, the Overlord of Dagbon in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region, has taken steps to address the perennial water shortage that has hit the area, with many residents struggling to access portable water recently for both domestic and commercial use.

The Yendi municipality in the Northern Region has, for the past month, faced water crisis following the drying up of the River Dakar, which is the main source of treated water for residents.

Led by the overlord of Dagbon, Yaa Naa Abukari II and the elders of the traditional council, the team inspected the site of river Dakar and met with the management of Ghana water Company Limited (GWCL) to find amicable solution to the problem.

The water shortage is affecting business activities and schools in the municipality. More so, the issue has resulted in scarcity of sachet water in the area, pushing residents to form a long queue at the various water production sites as early as 4am in order to get water for domestic use.

The Public Relations Officer for the Gbewa Palace, Musah Yakubu, lamented about the situation, highlighting how it is affecting residents.

“We are hoping that management of the eastern corridor intervenes to curb the issue at hand. Getting water sachet in the municipality has been a problem unless one goes to the site and sleep there. If you need it, you will have to go and sleep there before you can get water to buy. People are even fighting over it,” he stressed.

He appealed to individuals who could assist the municipality with machinery capable of dredging the Dakar River to come forward and assist in alleviating the situation, as that will enable the Dakar River to store water whenever it rains.

The Northern Regional Public Relations Officer for GWCL Nicholas Nii Abbey, in an interview with the B&FT said, the company is making efforts to supply treated water in water tankers to the residents but that is not enough to satisfy the entire population of the municipality.

Bawa Alhassan, a resident of Yendi said, he has been roaming in search for water for the past days and had to join the queue at the water production site at Balogu everyday, waiting for his turn to access the purified water for the family.

Even though there are mechanized boreholes in the municipality, these are few and do not meet the needs of the residents, pushing some of the residents to resort to unsafe sources of water.

President Akufo-Addo in 2020 cut the sod for the construction of a $30 million water supply system in Yendi, but the project had since not been executed.

The President has revealed that the Ministry for Sanitation and Water Resources and Finance had indeed signed an agreement with the Indian Exim Bank for a credit facility of $30 million, earmarked for the construction of the Yendi water supply system.

Through the project, Yendi and its environs would be supplied with 15,000 cubic of water daily, to meet water demand during the period 2021–2040, he said.

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