Aqua Vitens Rand Ltd. (AVRL), operators of the Ghana Water Company, say they cannot provide uninterrupted water if power supply continuous to wobble.

Communications Manger of AVRL, Mr Stanley Martey said, “Water production is mainly dependent on electricity so in the event of (us) having power outages or even fluctuations in power, we are unable to produce water because our pumps are such that when there are fluctuations in the flow of power, [they] cannot run.”

He said when the power fluctuations become persistent, the pumps of the company are switched off to save them from the vagaries of unstable power supply. And when that happens, the supply of water is affected.

Mr Martey said in order to minimize the disruptions in the supply of water, AVRL had entered into talks with the Electricity Company of Ghana and other related agencies, the result of which was a constant effort to give the company dedicated power lines to enable the production of water.

He said while the ECG and other companies had been doing their best to facilitate the production of water, there were times when they simply run out of options and in those cases AVRL was forced to shut down its pumps.

The company says using generators to power its plants is an extraordinarily expensive venture to contemplate.

For Mr Martey, procuring generators to power the water company’s pumps “is not financially prudent or economically feasible for us to actually power our machines with generators.”

He said even if the company had the resources to acquire generators for the purpose of powering its machines, he would suggest that that money be spent instead on expanding the capacity of the company to supply potable water to many more homes rather than procure expensive generators.

The communications manager expressed the hope that this year will see a further improvement in the water delivery system as a result of constant supply of power given that last year was fairly good.


Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana