Water experts call for attitudinal change to address challenges

Ghana joined the rest of the world to commemorate this year’s World Water Day on Sunday, March 22, with a symposium, calling for attitudinal change to curb the challenges in the water sector.

Stakeholders explained that human activities, such as illegal mining, population increase, illegal desilting of structures along catchment areas, sand winning, and climate change, among others, are the major factors affecting water source volume.

The symposium was organised in Accra by the Ministry of Water Resource, Works and Housing, to climax this year’s World Water Day under the theme: “Water and Sustainable Development”.

Both public and non-governmental organizations working in the water sector, took part in the programme.

Mr Hadisu Alhassan, Water Quality Manager at the Ghana Water Company Limited, speaking at the symposium to commemorate the day, said “until we change our attitudes towards the environment, especially water bodies, we are not going to overcome the numerous challenges facing the sector.”

He said currently about 82.6 per cent of Ghanaians have access to potable water, as against about four million people living without water.

He mentioned inadequate infrastructure, climate change, sand wining, “galamsey activities, textile effluent, nutrient load from farms as some of the challenges facing urban water supply, and called for intensive awareness campaign to avert the situation.

Dr Afia Zakiya, WaterAid Ghana Country Representative, stressed the need to link water to socio-economic development of the country and Public Health.

She also stressed the need to return to, and engage critically with indigenous knowledge, culture and taboos, and also take cultural meanings of water seriously, to save the environment, especially the ecosystem, from further degradation.

She said a study has revealed that for every one dollar spent on water, sanitation and hygiene, there is an economic return of four dollars, and called on governments and development partners to invest more in the water and sanitation sectors.

“People living in informal settlements and slumps pay more for water and sanitation,” she said, and called on governments to prioritise their access to water, sanitation and public health.

In a speech read for him, the out-going Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda, noted that the theme for the celebration was a call to take action and reflect on water use and conservation.

He said illegal mining and other human activities posed serious threat to ecosystem and degradation of water bodies, and urged the public to collaborate to address the problem.

He also stressed the need to adopt water conservation techniques as other measures to curb the situation.

“The theme also should serve as enough inspiration to strengthen awareness drive to achieve water production and conservation,” he added.

Mr David Duncan, Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), UNICEF, read a message by the UN Resident Co-ordinator, Ms Christine Evans-Klock, and said although Ghana had celebrated the achievements of the Millennium Development Goal for access to improved water supply, which reflects a significant commitment to providing water to all Ghanaians, it still has a long way to go.

‘We now have to ensure that safe water is provided to the remaining 4.5 million Ghanaians who still do not have access to improved water sources.

“We also need to tackle the next challenge, that three out of five Ghanaians are drinking water that may not be safe to drink. Whilst working on all of this, it is critical that we address the challenges of inequity,” he added.

He said currently the rich are three times more likely to have access to safer water, and seven times more likely to have hygienic sanitation than the poor.

Finally, he said, “we need to collectively deliver on government’s commitments to providing safe water and sanitation facilities to all schools, and do it quickly, so that all of this generation of Ghanaian children are able to learn in a safe environment”.