LET'S DOUBLE OUR EFFORTS (OCTOBER 22)

IT is usually said that water is life and perhaps many Ghanaians are living this realisation if recent statistics are anything to go by.
Understandably, more than half of the rural communities in the country had been provided access to potable water as of the end of last year.
According to the Minister of State for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Madam Cecilia Dapaah, 54.86 per cent of our people now enjoy potable water.
By the current rate, government’s target of 54.73 per cent has been exceeded, a development which places the country on course to achieve the 75 per cent target set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Again, it is worthy to note that water supply in urban areas has also gone up by 60 per cent, with indications that with the completion of other water supply systems the figure will shoot up to 65 per cent.
The MDGs represent a global partnership that has grown from the commitments and targets established at the world summits of the 1990s. They primarily aim at promoting poverty reduction and improving upon the standard of living.
There is no doubt that access to quality water is one of the important indicators of the quality of living of a group or community.
Over the years, there have been concerns that access to potable water remains a major challenge in many Ghanaian communities.
Although there is every cause to celebrate the gains made in the provision of potable water, as a country we cannot hold our chests out yet, since there are still many rural and urban communities that do not have access to potable water.
There are many Ghanaian lives that have been ‘sustained’ at a rather painful cost by some of the most polluted water sources one can ever think of.
Diarrhoeal diseases continue to kill many children in some of our rural communities and perhaps the gains made should serve as a source of inspiration to re-engineer the kind of self-belief that would rapidly help to improve upon the supply of potable water to Ghanaians.
Indeed, we have come a long way as a country in the provision of potable water for the people since 1928 when the first piped water supply system was constructed in Cape Coast.
From the Water Supply Division of the Public Works Department, today the country can boast of the Ghana Water Company Limited and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) to ensure that both urban and rural settlers have access to potable water.
It is also heart-warming to note that at long last the country this year launched a National Water Policy to provide clear guidelines in the water sector.
The cost of water treatment continues to be one of the main drawbacks to the attainment of universal access to potable water and this is because of the pollution of water sources used by treatment plants.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that the protection of water bodies should not be the responsibility of only regulatory bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency but a responsibility shared by all Ghanaians, particularly those who live close to water bodies.