Water And Culture

(Being Theme for World Water Day 2006)

The present and past decades have witnessed a tremendous increase in the water demand of people all over the world. The reason for this increased demand can be attributed to the increased natality rates and growing population of cities and towns. Water is globally unevenly distributed and basically occurs in two forms as marine water and freshwater contained in the earth’s natural reservoirs. Marine water supports a lot of aquatic life and used mainly for commercial purposes such as the construction of harbours (e.g. the Tema Harbour). Freshwater, a more desirable form of water is used as drinking water, etc. Much of the demand and outcry against limited water supply is about its drinkable form, fresh potable water. Sequel to these escalating consequences of overcrowding, overpopulation and unsuitable technological response, potable water has become a big problem in many nations of the world (especially developing nations) and it’s no exaggeration that in many places around the world it has reached crises proportions.

Created by the United Nations General Assembly following the recommendations of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the World Water Day (WWD) is a day set aside to create awareness on potential and revealing impacts of water in the world. The year 2006 marks not only the 14-year anniversary of that landmark event, but also the year that the world would in nearly 80 days to come mark the celebration of yet another water-induced global problem, Desertification.

In this write-up, I shall discuss the theme of the WWD, “water and culture” in a global cum local perspective. Even though the theme of the day’s celebration is on “water and culture”, I would prefer discuss, “water and society.” This is because water is a natural gift that principally is needed by the human society to which culture is a property. Understood as a gift to society therefore, the availability and use of water affect three basic aspects of our existence:

1. Settlement Pattern/Population

2. The Economy

3. Attitudes and Habits

In discussing water and particularly, water in relation to it being a component of the environment, we have to consider all these three components in unison, i.e. in an integrative sense.

Settlement Pattern and Population

The issue of human population is a major threat to global water supply. International Sanitation Research Director, Uno Winblad (1996) estimates that the human population is now 1,000 times greater than it was 10,000 years ago. The Director went on further to state that over the past 30 years, human population had doubled and it may double again in the next 40-50 years. One consequence of this population growth is that we now live closer together, at ever increasing densities, putting higher pressure on the environmental resources like potable water. Consequently, as our settlement pattern becomes more dense (as a result of increasing population densities), the more relevant and necessary it is for us to have access to, and make good use of water resources.

Winblad (1996) posits that each person produces about 500 litres of urine and 50 litres of feaces per year. To flush away our 550 litres using the conventional “flush-and-discharge toilet system”, each of us is using something like 15,000 litres of pure water every year even in the light of the fact that most cities in Ghana do not have access to potable water. A recent UNDP-World Bank survey estimated that there are about 5000 septic tank systems in Kumasi, about 40% of which appear to have never been emptied resulting in routine overflow and discharge of their contents into street drains and ditches. This in turn percolates through to groundwater sources making the conventional flush-and-discharge very technologically unsuitable. I call on our Sanitation Engineers to find a suitable technological response to this problem in Ghana.

The Economy

Water and development are very much linked. Celebration of the 2002 WWD centered on “water for development.” Understandably, this draws us to the importance of water in national development of any country. Ghana’s agriculture, for instance, is still heavily dependent on rainfall. Precisely, this implies that such threats like global warming and global climatic change should, more than ever, become an important consideration for national development. It becomes therefore important that Ghana consider such concerns as our ambient temperature that the Ghana Meteorological Agency once quoted as rising due to unguarded anthropogenic and industrial activities in Ghana.

Human beings too are important propellants of the economy. If the residents lack potable water, then, they are highly vulnerable to infection by water-borne and water-based diseases such as the prevalence of Dracunculusiasis that was reported in the northern region some time last year. This is bound to have major socio-economic growth implications in Ghana.

Hydropower generation of electricity is also an important use of water in society. In 1963, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah constructed the Akosombo Dam with the sole purpose of providing hydroelectric power for Ghana and some of her neighbouring countries in the West-African sub-region. However, this hydropower system has proved insufficient, necessitating the establishment of a Thermal Electricity generating plant in Takoradi.

Attitudes and Habits

This refers to how our day-to-day lives influence the availability and purity of freshwater and potable water resource. Some of these attitudes include the unpatriotic act of citizens who dump municipal waste into our public drainage system that affect and reduce the amenity value of our freshwater systems. Among the battery of this attitude include the undiscerning attitudes of Fulani herdsmen in Dzamesi who continuously, through the activities of their much-cherished cattle pollute freshwater sources for those communities in and around these municipalities. Not only does this deny residents of potable water, it also poses a big threat to the health of residents. Whilst considering bad attitudes towards water, we should also look at the various means by which we make water consumption and use a polluting activity. A vivid example is the plastic bag menace in the country that has been partly due to bad disposal habits among the Ghanaian society. These undesired attitudes need not be.

CONCLUSION

As part of the aim of our MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) to become a middle-income country by 2015 and in line with sustainable development, the government of Ghana has to recognize the role of water in the realization of this goal. The country needs a paradigm shift—a shift away from the present non-economic, non-sustainable approach to a holistic, sustainable approach, taking account of the fact that water is a resource which we need in our development as a nation.

Part of this paradigm shift demands that we sincerely consider adoption of attractive and alterative technological systems that can seriously affect sustained non-pollution and availability of potable water resources. Engineering Review (ER) posits that in Accra alone, the volume of waste generated per day ranges from 1500 to 1800 tonnes per day and that AMA (Accra Metropolitan Assembly) spends approximately 75 million cedis a day for the collection of waste and its dumping. Alternately, this means that if government of Ghana channels US $180 million fuel cost it takes to power the Takoradi Thermal plant generates only 330 megawatts of electricity, it could use this same amount to construct 2-6 incineration plants in Accra, Kumasi and other populated cities of Ghana. These incineration plants would remove 50% of plastic waste left in our environment if Blowplast Industries keep up its promise recycle Ghana’s 50% plastic waste. This would save cities from municipal waste contamination of water systems (such as the Chemu Lagoon that has been lost to improper municipal waste disposal methods), will create an aesthetic environment while inherently improving public health among the populace.

As members of the Ghana Science Association, I was part of the call (made during our last bi-ennial conference) to the government of Ghana to institute measures (even laws) to ensure that rainwater harvesting systems are part of every Ghanaian household.

A new wind of change is blowing, however, and there seems to be interest on the part of government to provide, conserve and protect our water resources. I will cite two major indicators.

In its Monday, November 14, 2005 edition, a leading Ghanaian newspaper, “Daily Graphic” in her editorial page titled “Frustration With Herdsmen” noted that the Volta Region Minister, Mr. Kofi Dzamesi ordered immediate evacuation of herdsmen in that region as they were polluting the water sources of the villagers through the activities. Though a punitive action, this action was meant to reduce the sources of pollution of water for the dwellers. Also, recently was the “Ghana-Netherlands” pact for expansion and provision of 10 million gallons of water per day for residents of Tamale projected to 2020. These are positive affirmation steps on the part of government and citizens are enjoined to protect this limiting resource, water.