The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWL) has warned of possible shutdown of some of its treatment plants if the newly proposed 280% tariff hike is not approved.
The company is seeking a 280 per cent upward adjustment in water tariffs.
At a 2025 stakeholder engagement with the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), the company cited the devastating impact of illegal mining (galamsey) and pollution of water bodies as the main drivers behind the request.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews, September 9, 2025, Chief Manager of Corporate Planning, Michael Klutse, explained that galamsey activities has polluted rivers, forcing the company to use more alum in treating water.
This, he said has increased the company’s cost, pushing it into debt.
“We are having the inadequate tariff because of the pollution that is ongoing and our cost of production has to go up. Some ten years ago or even before then, within the cost build-up, chemical was about number 4 or 5, electricity, staff cost, maintenance even before chemicals but now chemical is taking spot 2.
“If you go to Bomfa, we were using ten bags of alum a week. Fast forward to 2022, we were using the same ten bags of alum that we were using for a week for a day. Today, as we speak, we are using 40 bags of alum as of last year,” he noted.
Michael Klutse emphasised that without approval of the proposed adjustment, operations will become unsustainable.
“We are not asking for anything to make Ghana Water company profitable or anything. All that we want to do is to cover cost. It is scary.
“Just about some weeks ago, we shutdown a plant. The issue is that we will end up owing some other people and the next moment we will not be able to operate. We may shutdown some of the plant and we will not be able to serve the people in those areas,” he stated.
The newly proposed tariff has been vehemently opposed by many Ghanaians who believe that it is unjustifiable as Cedi as depreciated and inflation reduced.
