Four-year-old girl drowns in well as Totope residents decry water crisis

By Opesika Tetteh Puplampu, GNA    

Atortorkorpe, Nov. 10, GNA – A four-year-old girl has died after falling into a shallow dug well at Totope, a fishing community in the Ada East District, amid renewed concerns over inadequate access to potable water in coastal communities.  

Residents say the persistent shortage of reliable water supply has forced many households to depend on wells, one of which the girl drowned in, raising concerns about the safety of alternative sources.  

Mr Prosper Tetteh Puplampu, Assembly Member for the Puteh Electoral Area, raised the issue during the Third Ordinary Meeting of the Third Session of the Ninth Ada East District Assembly, calling for urgent intervention to extend potable water supplies to the affected communities.  

Mr Puplampu said the child had gone to fetch water when she fell into a well and was found dead before residents could rescue her.  

“The girl went to fetch water, and before we got there, she was dead inside the well, which is not deep. Our wells are shallow, and we do not even use ropes to fetch water, yet the girl died,” he said.  

He expressed frustration over what he described as Ghana Water Limited’s (GWL) slow response to repeated appeals for the extension of its supply network to the coastal communities.  

He said several engagements involving community leaders, the Member of Parliament, the District Chief Executive and some ministers had yielded little progress.  

According to him, GWL had previously assured the communities that it would expand its pipelines to extend water supply to the area, but the commitment was yet to materialise.  

He said he had engaged a private company to construct a borehole for the community, with the project expected to be completed by December 2026.  

Mr Kenneth Kabu Kofi Kanor, District Chief Executive for Ada East, said the Minister of Water and Sanitation had intervened and given GWL until December to demonstrate progress in addressing the water challenges.  

Mr Kabu stated that the government would consider engaging a private company to provide water services to the affected communities if GWL failed to make the expected progress.  

The incident has renewed calls for sustainable interventions to improve access to potable water in the coastal communities and reduce residents’ dependence on potentially unsafe alternative sources.  

GNA  

Edited by Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo/Kenneth Odeng Adade  

Reporter: Opesika Tetteh Puplampu, GNA