Assisting West African Utilities with implementing water safety planning

IWA initiated discussions with the main water utilities in each of the countries to get their commitment to the project and select a service area to focus the WSP implementation on. IWA has requested Emanti to assist with the rapid baseline (or status quo) assessment for each of the three (3) utilities of the English speaking countries, namely: Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The aim of the rapid baseline assessment is to find out what, if anything, they are already doing and more broadly understand current drinking water quality (what are the main issues they are facing).

Emanti initiated this project by conducting the rapid baseline assessment of Ghana Water Company Limited on 5th and 6th June 2014. The first day of the two-day programme included interviews/discussions with Ghana Water top management, including both the Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director, and many of the Department Heads from Water Quality Management, Operations and Maintenance, Finances, Human Resources, Planning, Projects and Development, Commercial Services, Customer Care, and IT. On the second day the Emanti team conducted a site inspection of the Kwanyaku Dam, Kwanyaku Water Treatment Works and associated distribution network and also conducted interviews with staff from the Agona Swedru District. The findings and identified gaps will inform IWA of where available limited resources should be focused to make discernable improvements.

It is anticipated that similar assessments will be conducted in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the near future.

If you are interested in a similar assessment for your utility, please contact us.