Danger Over CSWA Water Treatment Plant In Aveyime As Sand Winning Activities Take Centre Stage
The plant, which is located along the River Volta getting to Kpone, supplies water to Mepe, Battor, Aveyime, Sege and all areas around.
soireenews 
A water treatment and supply facility which belongs to the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) located at Aveyime in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region, and serves as a source of drinking water to people in various parts of Volta and Greater Accra Regions is under serious threat of being destroyed.
The imminent destruction of the plant, Soireenews investigations have revealed, follows the rampant illegal sand mining activities by a Ghanaian private investor.
Soireenews found out that the sand winning activities by this Ghanaian private investor was gradually destroying the CWSA water treatment plant which provides water to communities including Mepe, Battor, Abuvienu, Dodikope, Aveyime and some areas in Ada-Sege.
The development has compelled the management of CWSA to write several letters to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources and other state mining regulatory institutions including the North Tongu District Assembly.
However, Soireenews was informed that none of these state institutions has taken any action on the matter, a situation which has goaded the Ghanaian investor to continue with his illegal activity.
The communities which rely on the treatment plant for water complained that sometimes they were faced with severe water shortage and per news gathered, the plant’s water intake was contaminated due to excessive pollution from activities of the sand winning which was very close to the plant.
This meant that CSWA always had to bear the extra cost in the treatment of water.
In an interview with Soireenews, staff members of CWSA who spoke on condition of anonymity, urged the MSWR, EPA and Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to schedule a day to embark on an exercise to stop the sand winning activities of this private investor.
According to them, the collapse of the plant could cause a severe water supply crisis to the people in the beneficiary communities.
They stressed that if activities such as illegal sand winning within the water intake of the plant was not stopped, there was the possibility of the collapse of the plant.
They further suggested that the plant catchment area must be re-demarcated and all structures in the prohibited zone demolished to save the plant from collapse.
According to them, it was better for the government to stop the sand winning and demolish structures around the plant than to allow this to degenerate into a bigger water supply crisis.
"We are in total dismay when we see how a Ghanaian private investor is destroying the Volta River through sand winning activities in Aveyime whilst the chiefs and opinion leaders in Battor and Aveyime traditional areas look unconcerned," the staff members bemoaned.
The CSWA workers said this system was called 3-Districts Water Supply Scheme.
"The landowners are collecting money from the sand winners, whilst the North Tongu District Assembly including the Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa are doing nothing to avert this looming danger," they lamented.
"If we don't stop it, it will turn into a galamsey problem that continues to destroy water bodies like River Pra, Densu, Akobra, Subin and the rest," they warned.
When contacted on Saturday, May 8, 2021, the District Chief Executive (MCE) of the area, Mr Richard Collins Arku told that his outfit was not aware that there was ongoing sand winning activity in the catchment area of CWSA Water treatment Plant in Aveyime.
But he expressed shock over the development and promised to visit the site to ascertain the report.
Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu, Greater Accra Regional Correspondent
