Water from the Kamshegu Dam in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region has been found to be unsafe for drinking.

A water quality analysis by the Water Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) found that water from the dam did not conform to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines and Ghana’s quality water standard for the bacteriological parameters examined.

The analysis was based on water samples collected from two locations of the dam: upstream, where there were little or no human or animal activities, and downstream, where human and animal activities took place.

The scientific findings give credence to concerns raised in a recent investigative documentary by The Fourth Estate, which showed residents of Kamshegu sharing water from the dam with animals because of the absence of a promised mechanized borehole.

Titled SOCO Water Project: The Ghost Boreholes, the documentary exposed the failure by the Akufo-Addo government to provide a mechanized water facility that official project records indicated had been completed under the World Bank-funded Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) Project.

Kamshegu, together with two other communities (Kpatua and Guntingli), were listed to benefit from the project in 2022. However, residents continue to  compete for water in the dam with animals.

Following the publication of the documentary, a Ghanaian living in Switzerland, Moses Wash and his wife, Anna Wash, were touched by the plight of the people of Kamshegu, and volunteered to assist in providing the community with a water system. Before proceeding, however, they wanted scientific evidence to establish whether the water in the dam was safe for human consumption. 

And through their funding support, the Media Foundation for West Africa, which runs The Fourth Estate project, engaged the CSIR to carry out a water quality test of the Kamshegu Dam.  

The test results, signed by Dr Emmanuel Tetteh-Doku Mensah, Officer-in-Charge of the CSIR in Tamale, were released to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on Monday, October 12, 2026.

Meanwhile, the plans are far advanced by the Wash Family to provide the people of Kamshegu with a mechanized water system.