Water protection programme launched
A programme that seeks to promote public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources has been launched in the country.
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The programme will engage citizens in the use of a test kit called “World Water Monitoring Challenge Test Kit” to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies.
Targeted beneficiaries of the programme are: governmental institutions, schools, communities and youth groups in Weija, Daboase and Aprakoso in the Greater Accra, Western and Ashanti regions respectively.
The programme is part of the European Union-African Caribbean Pacific (EU-ACP) water facility project aimed at building capacity in quality water monitoring and surveillance in Ghana.
The water monitoring project is being supported by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).
Benefits of the test kit
In a speech read on his behalf at the launch in Accra, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing (MWRWH), Mr Collins Dauda, said the programme would contribute towards addressing the issue of water quality that had become a global concern.
Mr Collins explained that the components of the projects would focus on improving the quality of Ghana’s water bodies by raising awareness among relevant institutional stakeholders, communities and schoolchildren.
According to him, the government’s vision of providing water for all by 2025 would be defeated if the quality of water was poor. He said, “ It is, therefore, imperative to ensure that in our drive towards 100 per cent water coverage, quality is not sacrificed.”
Mr Dauda observed that with the increasing number of people moving to urban areas, the water supplied by the GWCL was not sufficient to meet demand.
“Many of the inhabitants in these urban areas have no option than to rely on water from sources whose wholesomeness cannot be guaranteed,” he added.
Mr Dauda, however, urged stakeholders to team up and work towards improving the quality of potable water in the country.
Challenges facing the GWCL
The Managing Director of the GWCL, Mr Godwin Kweku Dovlo, mentioned the pollution of water bodies through illegal mining (galamsey) as a major problem that affected the operations of the company.
He said the GWCL, over the past years, had spent huge sums of money to purchase chemicals to treat water and make it safe for drinking, adding; “ we buy around 15,000 metric tonnes of alum to treat water annually.”
Mr Dovlo, therefore, called for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to fight against illegal mining, since it pollutes the water bodies in the country.