By Politico Staff Writer
As part of the Freetown Water Supply Rehabilitation Project funded by UKAid, the Guma Valley Water Company on Friday 27th May 2022 completed maintenance work and replacements of the leaking Scour and Gate Valves at the Guma Dam Tunnel at Mile 13.
The work according to a report by the company’s communication unit is expected to save about 6 million liters of water per day, “enough water to serve 50,000 people.”
The Planning, Research, and Development Manager of Guma Valley Water Company, Ing Ibrahim C. Bah said the replaced valves have been seriously leaking, leading to loss of millions of liters of water on a daily basis.
“It was not safe to do scouring of the dam because of the old age of the scour valve, but with the new valves, the risk of the valves failing or not functioning correctly has been reduced significantly for the next fifty years, at least,” he said.
A good number of the population in Freetown rely on water supplied from the Guma Dam and the main water treatment Plant at Mile 13 which was built in the 60s to serve a lesser population than the existing one.
The objective of the Freetown Water Supply Rehabilitation Project according to officials is to improve the reliability of water supply for the citizens of Freetown, through rehabilitation of the water supply infrastructure and reduction of leakages for improved and reliable access to safe water supply. It is reported that the project work is currently in an advanced stage.
The rehabilitation project when completed will increase sustainable access to water in Freetown, with the expected impact being a reduction of morbidity and mortality rates associated with incidences of diarrhea, typhoid, and other water-borne diseases.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (01/06/22)
