A water system recently installed by the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) in Bopolu has stopped functioning, just months after its commissioning, leaving residents, especially children, struggling to access clean water.
Reporters from OK FM, who are currently on the ground in Bopolu, observed scores of children carrying buckets and gallons as they walked long distances between their homes and distant hand pumps to fetch water.
Residents say the LWSC facility initially provided much-needed relief but unexpectedly shut down without any public notice or explanation.
“We were happy when the water started running,” one resident told OK FM. “But now, our children are walking long distances again. We don’t even know what happened.”
The local operator of the system attributed the shutdown to the well’s shallow depth, suggesting it could not sustain a reliable water supply.
However, speaking via phone on the OK Morning Rush show on Monday, LWSC Managing Director Mo Ali dismissed that explanation, blaming the outage on human error and lack of training.
“The issue is not the depth of the well,” Ali clarified. “The real problem is that the operator was not adequately trained and accidentally damaged the switch that controls the water pump.”
Ali confirmed that the damaged switch will soon be replaced. He also announced that a team of LWSC technicians will travel to Bopolu to conduct a full technical assessment of the system.
“As part of our response, the local operator will receive hands-on technical training to avoid a repeat of this problem,” he added.
Ali also acknowledged that Bopolu’s growing population has outpaced the capacity of a single well. He revealed that LWSC is working on plans to construct a second well to expand access to clean water in the area.
The situation has sparked frustration and concern among residents who had welcomed the project as a long-awaited solution to the town’s water challenges.
Credit: OK FM
