Documentary on Ghana’s water sector launched
The European Union (EU) has commended Ghana for increasing the coverage of water supply in urban areas and for eliminating the Guinea worm disease from the country.
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The population of Ghanaians with access to potable water in urban areas has increased from approximately 8 million representing 64 per cent of people living in urban areas in 2014, to approximately 10 million representing 80 per cent of the population in urban areas, as of April this year.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service’s 2010 Population and Housing Census, 12.5 million people, representing 59.9 per cent of Ghana’s total population of approximately 24 million, live in urban areas.
EU week celebration
The Head of cooperation of the EU Delegation in Ghana, Mr Ignacio Burrull, gave the commendation at the launch and screening of a documentary on “Ghana water, our water: Quality first” in Accra last Thursday.
The launch of the documentary formed part of activities marking the 2015 EU Week Celebration in Ghana.
The documentary is an initiative of the EU and was produced by Creative Storm Network, a local movie production company.
It is on the constraints and achievements of Ghana water agencies in the provision of potable water for all. It highlights the achievements realised from an EU-funded project on water quality.
On the international level, the week is being celebrated worldwide as the year for promoting development cooperation internationally and reflecting on the progress made on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
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Among other topical areas for discussion worldwide is the right to water and sanitation.
Mr Burrull said Ghana and its development partners were fighting an uphill battle to enssure access to potable water for all locally.
“Human activities like galamsey or widespread uncontrolled use of fertilisers and agro chemicals close to water bodies form a critical threat to the vision to provide safe drinking water for all,” he explained.
Room for improvement
Mr Burrull said despite the significant strides the country had made by increasing the percentage of people with access to potable water in urban areas, more needed to be done.
He added that access to potable water was a basic human right and pointed out that any deficit in the national coverage, therefore, was an indication of human rights violation.
EU support
In a statement read on his behalf, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr Kweku Agyeman Mensah, said an EU-funded project on building the capacity of water quality monitoring and surveillance services had contributed to the strides the nation had made in increasing access to potable water in urban areas.
The project focused on water supplied by the Ghana Water Company Limited in the Ashanti, Greater Accra and Western regions.
The project, among other objectives, sought to improve upon the capacity of the GWCL laboratories to ensure the delivery of safe drinking water.