Suspect chemicals at Barekese water treatment plant

Barekese water treatment headworks in the Ashanti Regional capital of Kumasi is using aluminium sulphate, or alum, which does not bear expiry dates, according to investigation by Joy News.

The chemical, which is imported by the Ghana Urban Water Company (GUWC) to purify tap water, is the same compound that was found to have expired on the premises of the Weija Dam site in Accra.

The issue raised serious public health concerns.

However, officials of the GUWC insisted that the expired alum was never used to treat any of the water that reaches consumers.

Luv FM’s Erastus Asare Donkor went to the water treatment headworks and reported that the situation is a bit worrying.

He said he found bags of alum purportedly from Sweden without expiration dates on them.

He also found a chemical labeled “hydrated lime” without manufacturing or expiry dates.

Asare Donkor noted that there are other worrying lapses at the Barekese headworks that require immediate attention.

He said parts of the infrastructure at the headworks are deteriorating quickly, potentially reducing the daily amount of water treated at the headworks and thus threatening to affect the water supply to people living in the Ashanti Region.