Residents of Asaman in the Okere District of the Eastern Region depend on polluted river for drinking and for domestic activities.
Residents say they often develop various diseases including skin rashes as a result. Asaman with population of about 1,5000 has been without water for more than a century when ancestors of the community first settled.
River Adabo,a river which flows through many communities has remained the only available source of water for residents but the river is heavily polluted upstream by both human and domestic animals due to encroachment.
Some resident in upstream communities such as Nkrukan allegedly dump refuse and dislodge faecal matter into the river making it unsafe for human consumption.
School children are the most affected in terms of water borne diseases whenever they drink water from the Adabon river. Some residents including the traditional rulers in the community told Ghone News several efforts made to have the situation addressed have not been successful leaving residents no choice than to drink from the polluted river. But their days of depending on polluted water is over. Plan International Ghana has provided them with a borehole.
The Eastern Regional Manager of Plan International Ghana, Kofi Adade Debrah is worried that water coverage in the Eastern region has for the past three years remained stagnant hovering around 57% with 43% of rural communities in the region without potable drinking water despite increasing populations rate. He urged government to inject enough financial resources into provision of potable drinking water.
