Ghana Water Limited (GWL) has recovered over GH3.7 million from customers who engaged in illegal water connections and meter bypasses as part of a statewide revenue mobilisation and anti-water theft campaign.
Almost 400 illegal connections have been found in Accra alone thus far as a result of the effort, which is being carried out with assistance from National Security.
This has exposed substantial losses to the state water provider.
During an inspection visit to the company’s Central Workshop and portions of the Kpong gearbox line that are presently undergoing repairs, Mr Adam Mutawakilu, Managing Director of GWL, revealed this.
He added that after studies showed that pipeline leaks and water theft were significant causes of Ghana Water’s high non-revenue water levels, the business formed a Revenue Enhancement Team in August 2025.
He claims that in order to improve revenue collection and reinforce enforcement efforts, the specialist team was increased from three operational units to ten units in January of this year.
“As of last Friday, we had identified about 397 illegal connections,” Mr Mutawakilu said.
Unauthorised connections, meter bypasses, and unmetered water offtakes along important transmission lines were among the illegal activities, he clarified.
According to the Managing Director, the exercise has found liabilities of around GH₵16 million so far, of which about GH₵3.7 million has already been collected in cash from offending consumers.
He threatened to prosecute and disconnect clients from the water delivery network if they did not pay their outstanding debts.
“One is for them to come and pay the outstanding. If you are not willing to pay, then court process starts,” he said.
Mr. Mutawakilu pointed out that because huge amounts of treated water could not be accurately accounted for before reaching consumers, the illicit connections were exacerbating water shortages in some areas of Accra and Tema.
Residents in Tema and Accra East continue to have supply reliability issues as a result of the situation and leaks on outdated transmission pipelines from the Kpong Water Treatment Plant.
He disclosed that evaluations carried out by GWL revealed that leaks caused about 40% of the water produced from Kpong to be lost before it reached Tema.
The company’s investigations revealed that one of the main causes of the losses was an old 21-inch steel gearbox line.
Due to years of operational stress and neglected maintenance, the pipelines, some of which are over 70 years old, have numerous weak points and perforations.
In order to overcome the difficulty, GWL has started building and replacing broken 21- and 42-inch pipeline segments at its Central Workshop.
In order to restore the integrity of the gearbox system, the facility performs painting, welding, sandblasting, pipe rolling, and the manufacturing of specific pipe fittings.
For installation along the impacted corridors, the factory is now constructing 180 meters of 21-inch pipes and 162 meters of 42-inch pipes.
To make shipping and on-site installation easier, the pipes are being manufactured in portions of six and twelve meters.
When gearbox line leaks are found, the workshop performs emergency repairs in addition to repairing damaged pieces.
According to Mr. Mutawakilu, the fabrication project has already received approximately GH₵5 million, and more money is anticipated to be granted to speed up repairs and stabilise supply.
In order to increase water production and pressure within the transmission network, GWL was concurrently replacing all five pumps at the Kpong Water Treatment Plant, which made the repairs crucial, according to Mr Mutawakilu.
He claimed that once the new pumps were put into service, the pipes’ integrity needed to be strengthened in order to stop additional breaks and leaks.
The Managing Director stated that the company has implemented continuous monitoring systems for the pipelines because it was resolved not to let maintenance issues worsen to the current levels once more.
He declared, “We are not going to wait for things to get worse before action is taken.”
He emphasised that the interventions were a part of GWL’s larger initiatives under the government’s reset agenda to lower non-revenue water, increase operational effectiveness, and guarantee a steady supply of drinkable water to urban residents.
Source: newsthemegh.com