Supporting local communities in accessing drinking water is one of the points of Aliaxis Italia's Corporate Social Responsibility program.
For Aliaxis, the protection and management of water resources is a key priority: in 2021, Aliaxis Italia launched a "give-back" project to support local communities in accessing drinking water, improving health security and quality of life, giving the opportunity to build a better future for all the villages involved.
The project consists of making investments every year, working with qualified distributors, local authorities and water management NGOs, to provide a safe and constant source of water to rural communities in Ghana and neighbouring states.
In June 2021, we celebrated the inauguration of two wells in the Birim South District, built thanks to the coordination of the NGO Action Against Rural Poverty, which has been active in Ghana for many years, as part of the Ayensukrom Water Project.
In 2022, on the other hand, we participated in the inauguration of two other new wells in the Assin North District, also built with the valuable collaboration of Action Against Rural Poverty.
The District that covers an area of about 750 sq. km and includes about 350 settlements, is characterized by an undulating topography and has an average height of about 200mt above sea level.
The unavailability of safe drinking water in many communities in the northern district of Assin is a major concern for the people who live there and for humanitarian organizations working in the water and sanitation sector.
The supply and management of drinking water is not an easy task for local administrations that are faced with a number of challenges to make water accessible to people:
- Most water sources dry up during the dry season, forcing people in those areas to return to drinking from unhealthy sources, which make them vulnerable to water-borne diseases
- Wells are constantly breaking due to excessive pressure during rainy seasons, and a lack of funds and community expertise make general maintenance ineffective
- Even though the pools appear to be the main source of water, they are mostly left unprotected. As a result, natural runoff flows into such unprotected wells, making them unsafe for human consumption
- Due to the limited number of water points, coupled with the District's generally low water table, women spend much of their productive hours searching for water to carry out their household chores. Children, and especially girls, mostly find themselves helping their mothers draw water at the expense of their education
- For economic reasons, most consumers of the District's water network have serious difficulties in paying their water bills. This adversely affects the operation and management of the facility
The commitment of Aliaxis Italia has gone in favor of two local communities: the community of Kwaku Baah and that of Sobinso; these two small communities have a few hundred adults and many school-age children, the lifestyle of these families depends on the availability or otherwise of water, according to the season. During the dry period they have to walk 45 minutes to access the nearest water source.
Thanks to the construction of the new wells, the children of Kwaku Baa and Sobinso and their families finally have access to drinking water, safe for human health, with a consequent reduction in water-related diseases, and will be able to go to school more regularly, recovering the time dedicated to the search for water to devote themselves to other productive initiatives.
We are proud to have participated with the donation of products, under the Astore and REDI brands, related to water management and with financial support for drilling and well construction activities.
The Aliaxis Group, with the Astore brand, has been present in these areas for over 20 years to support the development of local realities with which important collaborative relationships have been consolidated, also built on the appreciation of products made in Italy.