PROTECT WATER BODIES, SUSTAIN LIFE (TUES. MARCH 24, 2009)

LAST Saturday was observed as World Water Day to draw attention to the importance of water to the survival of every nation.
The observation was on the theme, “Shared Water, Shared Opportunities”.
Speaking at a flag-raising ceremony in Accra to mark the day, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Albert Abongo, said, “Access to water for domestic and productive agricultural and other economic activities has a direct impact on the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger in our country.”
“Water is life”, everybody acknowledges, and for this reason governments and local communities have adopted measures to protect their water sources.
In some rural communities in this country and elsewhere, water bodies are treated with reverence and worshipped as gods. Several sacrifices are made to these water bodies in order to sustain them.
Also, in days gone by, farmers were prohibited from farming near the banks of water bodies. In some instances, people in the villages were told not to engage in any activity in special forests reserved along the banks of rivers because they were likely to see certain unpleasant things in them.
Frankly speaking, these were just some precautionary measures adopted by our elders to save our water bodies and the forests nearby from encroachment.
Today, in the name of civilisation and technological advancement, we have rubbished these simple native injunctions, to the detriment of our survival.
Now population explosion and the uncontrolled exploitation of our resources have ganged up to deny us the benefits from the country’s natural resources. Almost all major water bodies, including the River Densu, on which the Weija Dam is sited, and the Volta River, on which the Kpong Dam is built, are facing serious threats from uncontrolled human activities.
Encroachers have built very close to these dams and others in the country, while farmers have destroyed the green belts that prevent siltation and evaporation.
Persistent education of members of communities lying near water bodies on the need to protect these resources has not been heeded.
Every year we are faced with prolonged periods of travelling long distances in search of water, and yet the people ignore appeals to protect water sources.
Many residents of Accra and other cities and towns do not have regular access to potable water. The reason is not far-fetched, though, as demand has outstripped supply because many people are migrating to the urban centres. For instance, output from both the Kpong and the Weija plants is about 90 million gallons per day but demand is about 140 million gallons per day.
The lack of good drinking water creates the environment for water-borne diseases to thrive because many of the people who cannot afford the high cost of water depend on ponds and other untreated water sources.
The DAILY GRAPHIC foresees a bleak future as the rainfall pattern becomes less predictable. This situation will be aggravated by extreme floods and drought, making it expensive to manage the scarce water resources to meet the growing demand of the population.
It is about time all of us returned to the basics of sustainable management and desist from encroaching on our water bodies in order to sustain human life.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, calls on Ghanaians to co-operate with the Water Resources Commission to protect the country’s water bodies to guarantee water for all at all times.