Koforidua, Aug 2, GNA 96Remote cocoa growing areas within Volta and Eastern Regions are being supplied with potable water, through the operatio= n of solar powered mechanised boreholes.

The project is being carried out by Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) with support from Cocoa Marketing Board. This was disclosed to some members of the Ghana Water and Sanitation Journalists Network (GWJN), during a tour of some water and sanitation projects in the two regions last week.

The tour was to help them acquaint themselves with the prospects and challenges related to water and sanitation distribution and coverage for th= e regions. The journalists, numbering 13, began the week's tour with a visit to the offices of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) in Koforidua, where they were briefed on the current state of the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene education services in the region and ended with a similar briefing in Ho the Volta Regional capital.

The network=91s field trip was supported by the Water Directorate of t= he Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing under its Improvement of Water Sector Performance Management Framework (IWSPMF) project. The journalists visited a solar operated borehole at a cocoa farm owne= d by the Saviour Church near Abakoase, where they interacted with volunteers working on the 170 hectares farm. Mr Simon Peter Asirifi, East Akim Municipal Chief Executive, welcomin= g the team to his district, lamented that the bane of the municipality was th= e high incidence of illegal mining popularly referred to as 91galamsey', w= hich had caused the pollution of its main water source, the Birim River as well as the other water bodies.

"It is difficult to arrest them because they work mostly in the night and during the day they run away when there is an attempt to arrest them,= " he said.

He expressed his exasperation at the fact that even though with the help of security agencies they are trying to nip the situation in the bud, they are sometimes demoralised when the courts release suspects as well as their equipment to them, after they have arrested them and confiscated thei= r heavy equipment.

Touching on sanitation, he stated that it had been realised only two communities in his jurisdiction were practising open defecation, but hoped to make the entire municipality open defecation free by the end of 2011. The journalists also visited Asiakwa, where they interacted with the Water and Sanitation Development Board, managers of small town water supply system and its facilities, and later toured the facility which serves about 5,000 people. The team also visited the Enyiresi Hospital to see at first hand a rai= n water harvesting facility constructed as part of the CWSA's institutional support programme to serve basic/senior high schools, clinics and health facilities.