EFFORTS TO SOLVE WATER PROBLEM (SPREAD, MARCH 23, 2010)

Ghana yesterday joined the international community to celebrate World’s Water Day, with an assurance that an integrated development and management of water resources intervention is being pursued to solve the country’s water problems.
The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who gave the assurance in a speech read on his behalf at the annual event held in Tarkwa in the Western Region, said integrated water resources management was crucial to the success or failure of all Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
That, he said, was because water was central to the livelihood systems of the poor and the vulnerable, as well as health and good sanitation.
He said the Water Resources Commission (WRC) had been mandated to manage the water resources of the country in a sustainable manner.
The theme for the event was, “Clean Water for a Healthy World”.
Mr Bagbin said the decade 2005 to 2015 was a critical period to focus global attention on what should be done, adding, “This is the right time to intensify advocacy efforts and action on the ground.”
He said the ‘water for life’ decade was a unique occasion, not just to highlight the magnitude of the problem but also bring all stakeholders together to apply solutions that work.
The minister urged Ghanaians to use this year’s World Water Day celebration to make a deliberate effort to promote access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
“Let us use it as a springboard for raising awareness of water, stimulating debate and focusing on the dangers that derive from inadequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation,” he stated.
Mr Bagbin said the provision of safe drinking water for the people remained the topmost priority of the government, since clean water was absolutely critical for health, quality of life and productivity.
He said in spite of heightened concerns and initiatives by international institutions, national and local governmental bodies, non-governmental organisations and private industry, it had been extremely difficult to implement viable solutions that were sustainable to address the crisis on the scale that it demanded.
“The consequences of our collective failure to tackle this problem were the dimmed prospects for the billions of people locked in a cycle of poverty and disease,” he stated.
The Managing Director of Aqua Vitens Rand Limited, Mr Martin Njisse, said everybody was striving for excellence in the provision of clean water for a healthy population.
Therefore, he said, it was gratifying to note that this year’s celebration sought to raise the level of awareness of the need for sustaining healthy ecosystems for a healthy humankind by addressing water quality challenges confronting countries all over the globe.
“It is sad to say that over the years the lack of adequate monitoring and enforcement of relevant laws and regulations has resulted in unfettered encroachment and degradation of our water bodies,” he said, adding, “We are all aware that the heavy pollution of water bodies has become a major environmental problem in and around Tarkwa.”
Mr Njisse said a typical example was the heavy pollution that had taken place in and around the Weija Lake in Accra and the Owabi Lake in Kumasi.
He said what was more worrying was that unscientific fishing and farming in the catchment zones had resulted in weed growth and deterioration in water quality in the Weija and the Owabi lakes.
“Needless to say, the negative effect of the deteriorated water quality of the Weija Lake and other water bodies is very enormous, as this has largely contributed to the high operational cost of the company,” he said.