Stakeholders sensitized on point of use water treatment

The Afram Plains Development Organisation (APDO), a non-governmental organisation dedicated to poverty reduction, has sensitized some key stakeholders in the water sector on the appropriate point of use (POU) treatment in the country.

The aim was to ensure that people treated water well no matter the source before drinking to prevent contracting  diarrhoea diseases in northern Ghana where some sources of drinking water are contaminated.

Precision DX, an Accra based company is liaising with APDO to use aquatabs water purifying tablets to purify Point of Use water before consumption.

The Agricultural Rural Development (ARD) and the West African Water Initiative (WAWI) funded the programme, which brought together more than 70 participants from the Northern and the Upper East regions.

Mr. Dominic Dapaah, Northern Regional Programme Director of APDO, said water sources were often contaminated and stressed the need for point of use water treatment before consumption.

He said APDO was established in 1986 and was initially focused on the provision of safe water and sanitation facilities but later partnered with some development partners to help the poor and some vulnerable groups in society.

Mr Dapaah said APDO was also working to promote hygiene and sanitation services, education, information on HIV/AIDS and the sustainable use and management of natural resources.

On water treatment with aquatabs, Mr. Dapaah said, a lot contamination occurs during transportation of water from source to households including those who have access to improved water hence the need for treatment before use.

He said since 2008, a safe drinking water initiative has been in the process that included country-specific activities in the four WAWI countries, namely Ghana, Mali, Niger and Burkina-Faso to ensure that a commercial chlorine-based POU product was made available.

Source: GNA