The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has uncovered a massive illegal water connection at the premises of IceCool Purified Water Limited, producers of Icecool sachet and bottled water at Shai Hills.
The GWCL discovered illegality during a visit to the premises as part of its national revenue enhancement programme.
A team from the Tema GWCL Regional Office and security personnel also discovered a similar illegal connection at Kings and Queens Medical Teaching Hospital at Kpong.
Mr Sampson Ampah, the Communications Manager of GWCL Tema Region, told the media that the sachet and bottle water company had used water illegally for their production for a long time.
Mr Ampah added that the company had done some complex connection, connecting the GWCL treated water into eight 2,000 cubic metre tanks and using it for their production without paying.
“Our checks from the revenue enhancement team clearly show that they did not only bypass the metre to have the water in the tank to use illegally, but also removed the metre and used the water directly, an action clearly amounting to illegal connection.”
He stated that at the Kings and Queens Medical Teaching Hospital, the team discovered that they have tapped into the GWCL’s main 21-inch pipe directly and connected to their underground tank, using it for the past five years now.
According to him, the connection was so complex that it would take more than one visit to detect it, adding that the team had laid in ambush for a while before concluding that there was an illegality going on in the two establishments.
The communications manager said the company would quantify the water used to surcharge them, adding that the managements of the two establishments have been invited and the criminality part would be referred to the police.
“We are appealing to the public to help us fight against such illegal connections; it is going against our revenue so much. You can imagine the volume of water they are using here without paying for it, and this is water that we have treated, and we need to account for every drop of it,” he stated.
Mr Ampah said there was a reward for anybody who reports such illegal connections when proven to be true; therefore, the public must help apprehend offenders of the law.
