Shai Hills Water Crisis Under Spotlight as DCE Steps Up to Deliver Solutions

By: Nana Kwasi Roka

“They fetch millions worth of gravel from here every month – but we fetch water from a muddy stream with frogs in it.” – Afia Pokua, Mother of Four, Aprah

While quarry trucks haul gravel worth millions out of the Shai Hills–Doryumu–Ayikuma enclave each month, thousands of residents are left struggling to find something far more essential – clean drinking water.

Despite the area’s rich mineral deposits and the presence of over a dozen active quarry companies, access to potable water remains a dire crisis. Most households depend on broken boreholes, shallow hand-dug wells and seasonal streams often polluted with runoff from quarry blasts and heavy truck traffic.

In some communities, children rise as early as 4 a.m. to queue at a single standpipe, carrying buckets of water over long distances just to bathe before school.

“We sometimes boil water full of sand and still get diarrhea,” laments Kwame Ofori, a farmer in Ayikuma.

The environmental degradation caused by unregulated quarrying has worsened water quality. Dust, oil residue and blasting runoff contaminate streams and aquifers. The result: increasing cases of water-borne diseases, skin infections and cholera outbreaks – especially among children and the elderly.

“We used to drink from this stream. Now it gives our babies rashes,” said Madam Ruth Aryee, a petty trader at Doryumu.

A Call for Action and Leadership Answering the Call

As global attention turns to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation for All, the people of Shai Hills are demanding urgent intervention from both quarry companies and government authorities.

Health professionals and civil society groups are calling on these companies to fulfill their corporate social responsibility (CSR) by investing in clean water infrastructure – including mechanized boreholes, filtration systems and safe water delivery networks.

Fortunately, hope is on the horizon. The newly appointed District Chief Executive (DCE) for Shai-Osudoku, Hon. Ignatius Godfred Dordoe, has acknowledged the crisis as one of the most urgent challenges of his tenure. Less than two months in office, he has initiated plans to engage both private sector players and development partners to restore clean water access.

“No child in Shai Hills should fall sick from drinking dirty water while trucks carry our gravel to build cities,” the DCE emphasized during a recent community engagement.

This local effort is receiving strong support from the highest level of government. President John Dramani Mahama, under the ruling NDC government, has made universal access to clean water a top national priority. As part of the NDC’s broader 24-Hour Economy and Infrastructure Renewal Agenda, new water systems are being rolled out in deprived communities across the country, with Shai Hills now high on the priority list.

Government insiders confirm that potable water projects, including solar-powered boreholes and small-town water systems, are being planned for the worst-affected communities in the district – a move aligned with the President’s commitment to inclusive development and environmental justice.

A Cautionary Tale – or a Turning Point?

If ignored, the Shai Hills situation could become a cautionary tale of how natural wealth can coexist with human suffering. But with the current momentum, it may yet become a success story – where leadership, community voices and responsible corporate action turned scarcity into sustainability.

As the world watches, the people of Shai Hills wait – not for more stone but for water.