Don’t destroy water bodies - public urged as Ghana observes World Water Day

Speakers at a ceremony to mark World Water Day have raised concerns about the massive pollution and destruction of water bodies through human activities.

At the event, held at Ngleshie Amanfrom in the Ga South District in the Greater Region yesterday, the public was asked to reflect on the state of water bodies and take part in curbing illegal mining and planting along river banks.

The ceremony was organised by the Water Resources Commission (WRC) on the theme: “Nature for water.”

Crucial role

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mr Kofi Adda, whose statement was read on his behalf, said water played a crucial role in all aspects of human life, yet human activities such as illegal mining, sand winning, aquaculture and the inappropriate disposal of domestic and industrial solid and liquid waste was threatening the resource.

He said the government had made water resource management and use a topmost priority.

The minister mentioned the need for partnerships between the public and private sectors for the protection and conservation of water resources.

Galamsey

In a welcome address, the Ga South Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Stephen Joseph Nyani, said nature could only continue to deliver its services where ecosystems were healthy and functioning well.

“We must desist from dumping waste, either solid or liquid, in our water bodies,” he said.

The Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Dr Clifford Abdulla Braimah, said the pollution of water bodies, especially at the intake points, was impacting negatively on their operations.

He mentioned how galamsey destroyed the source of water at the Bonsa Water Treatment Plant in the Western Region, saying “we were using three bags of aluminium sulphate to treat water but because of the pollution caused by the galamsey menace we use 12 bags of aluminium sulphate to do the same treatment. We are spending more money to treat water and it is making water production expensive, but we cannot increase the tariffs.”

Create awareness

The Executive Secretary of the Water Resource Commission, Mr Ben Yaw Ampomah, said as a result of modernity, access to clean and safe water had become scarce.

He called on traditional leaders and other stakeholders to create awareness of the need to properly manage water resources on sustainable basis by embracing conservation and preservation of water bodies and land resources.

The Chief of Ngleshie Amanfrom, Nii Kwashie Gborlor IV, urged the municipal assembly to apprehend people who dumped refuse and other waste products into water bodies and open gutters and felled trees near the river.

BlueCrest

In a related development, students from the BlueCrest College in Accra embarked on a street campaign to educate the public on the need to make judicious use of water in their homes and workplace.

Numbering about 50, the students from the Communication Department of the college began their campaign from the Accra Ring Road through the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and the headquarters of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and finally converged on the college campus.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic after the campaign, the Head of the Mass Communication Department at BlueCrest College, Mr Kofi Dzokoto, said the rationale behind the campaign was to educate the public on the various ways of making good use of water.