World Water Day marked in Kumasi

He said joining forces to protect and preserve water resources was essential, explaining that “ it does not only  strike a balance between the different needs and uses of such resources by different interest groups, but also ensures that such resources  are shared equitably”.

Addressing a section of the media to mark the World Water Day in Kumasi, Nana Sarpong said the competing interests  and  increasing demands of the public in sourcing for water for various uses, and the acute shortage of  water hitting the urban and rural communities called for an urgent and a multi-purpose approach in protecting and preserving rivers and streams across the country.

Speaking on the theme “International year for water cooperation,”  Nana Sarpong noted that the continuous destruction of rivers and streams through human activities such as illegal chainsaw operation, illegal mining, sand winning, agriculture and the construction of private and public structures close to rivers and streams , was seriously polluting to water resources.

He wondered why opinion leaders , especially politicians and chiefs across the country, had allowed rivers and streams to be used for galamsey operations at a time an acute water shortage had hit the country.

“ All major rivers and streams, including the Pra Basin, Ankobra, Offin and Densu have now been turned into  mining pits with  impunity. Ironically our politicians and chiefs who are supposed to manage such resources for our benefit have turned a blind eye as if nothing is taking place,” he bemoaned.

“ As we celebrate World Water Day, it is my expectation that all stakeholders would cooperate more meaningfully to maintain, protect and preserve water resources for the benefit of our domestic, agricultural, industrial, tourism and industrial sectors,” he noted.

“ Our population is always increasing, putting intense pressure on the limited water resources, but there are no policies and programmes in the country designed to safeguard our water resources for our mutual benefits,” he bemoaned.

 “By our culture, our chiefs are supposed to be the custodians of our land and water resources, indicating that they should have championed the crusade of protecting our water resources, but they are now spearheading the dissipation of such resources for galamsey activities” .

“ All rivers and streams in  our cities  have been turned into dumping grounds for solid and liquid wastes, and in the rural communities, such resources are being used as mining pits by foreigners and a section of our youth with impunity,”  he added.

He also said that the use of chemicals in washing gold ore in the rivers was aggravating the pollution of rivers and streams and explained that since water was sensitive, and a finite resource, its misuse was likely to cause acute shortage across the country.

“Considering the rate of destruction of our water resources across the country, Ghana is likely to face serious water crises.

“What is happening in Accra and other cities is the beginning of such crises so the time to act is  now,” he advised.