WATER PROJECTS IN NORTH TONGU DISTRICT GHANA
Owned and managed by the communities

Water is Life!  Kpokope Community at standpipe
 

GETTING STARTED - Mafi-Dekpoe Water Project

AMURT's involvement in the North Tongu District of Ghana's Volta Region started in 1990 in Mafi-Dekpoe with an educational campaign to combat the Guinea Worm menace. After employing meetings, house visits and theatre, the AMURT team soon realized that the best way to help the people would be to provide safe drinking water. A dam built by the Russians in the 1960's for agricultural purposes held enough water for a project to serve the ten villages. AMURT was able to build a water treatment plant using the slow sand filter technology to purify the dam water. DANIDA paid for the piping and distribution. The work took years, but in August 1998, the water finally started flowing.

MOVING ON TO MAFI-ZONGO

Before the Mafi-Dekpoe project was completed, AMURT was approached by the assembly man from Mafi-Zongo. The were also badly affected by Guinea Worm. They needed a similar project. AMURT got a grant from the UNDP and constructed a dam, and the water treatment plant was constructed with help from AMURT chapters in the US and Europe. Committees were organized with representatives from the communities, and this committee took the lead in organizing the communal labor and various aspects of the project planning.

COMMUNITIES COMING TOGETHER TO COMPLETE THE RESERVOIR

After building the dam, and the water treatment plant; at the end of 2002 we were looking at the daunting task of constructing a reservoir or water tower on the top of Kpokope Hill. The project design calls for the treated water to be pumped from the water treatment plant to the tower, from where it will flow by gravity to the communities. The logistical problems were considerable. How to convey heavy construction materials to the top of the mountain? The community organizers, Emperor and Kudjo, along with AMURT coordinator, Brohim, worked hard to mobilize the communities. Fifteen truck loads of sand, along with 600 bags of cement, and hundreds of iron bars and planks of wood reached the summit and the construction was completed in July. The capacity of the tank is 100 cubic meter, or 100,000 liters.

Pulling up the pipes was a dangerous and difficult job

Here are the Kpokope Mountain Heroes –
the local boys lifted and secured heavy iron pipes on the steep mountain side

The women of Kpokope took up the task of providing rocks and stone chips for the construction. They climbed and chipped the rocks with hammers straight of the mountain near the construction site, more than 1500 head-pans.

The communities take great pride in the construction of the water tower. The Zongo water project is community owned and community managed. The participation of the communities through labor, sand and rocks, is a key component to instill the spirit necessary to make the project sustainable.

THE WATER REACHES THE VILLAGES

2005 was a pivotal year for the project. By summer the difficult and dangerous installations of iron pipes on the Kpokope hill was completed, the pumps, generators and filter media was installed at the water treatment plant were installed well tuned and tested, fifteen kilometers of pipes were laid and 21 pipes stands constructed to deliver the water to the first ten communities. The regular distribution of water started in September.

The water treatment plant produced water of a clarity and quality
that had not been seen in the communities before.

2006 and LOOKING FORWARD

January 2006 saw the beginning of an important new partnership between Mafi-Zongo Water Project, AMURT and Engineers Without Borders. The EWB Tucson, Arizona chapter has committed to three years of technical assistance. Their service is invaluable in overcoming the many technical challenges, and decipher all the complexities involved in making a giant project like this run smoothly and effectively.

THIRTEEN MORE COMMUNITIES JOIN THE PROJECT

End of January also saw the start of Phase 2. Thirteen communities started the work and digging the trenches that will expand the pipe network to close to 50 km. The spirit of unity and commitment is demonstrated through colossal effort of communal labor. As of end of May, 2006 about two thirds of phase two trenching and pipe laying is completed. And we hope to conclude Phase 2 by September 2006 where the project will serve more than 8,000 people. Next year we will evaluate the feasibility of a phase 3 to added 2,000 more people to the project.

The conveying of the pipes to the trenches was done by the women

After laying the pipes, the trenches must be filled immediately

The women did most of the work to prepare the filter media at the Water Treatment Plant
 

Thanks to our donors and partners:

The water projects of North Tongu District is the result of hard work by the communities and strong determination by the local dedicated AMURT staff. However, we remain reliant on contributions from individuals and funding agencies to complete the project. We are still looking for sponsors for the finishing stages of the project, most significantly the distribution and piping.

To contribute you can:

2. Send a donation via the AMURT Global office in Washington DC, USA.
 

3. For those not living in U.S.A. donations can also be sent via bank transfer to: :

AMURT
Account number #3702602
BARCLAY'S BANK
Makola Branch, Accra
GHANA

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

AMURT Ghana
P. O. BOX 328, Mamprobi, Accra, Ghana
Tel: +233-21-666-746

 

AMURTEL Ghana, our sister organization, provides good quality health care in rural villages,
focusing especially on women's needs (safe motherhood) and preventative health care for children.
Visit AMURTEL Africa website