Join Govt to tackle water issues - Dauda

It was organised by the Water Resources Commission and the National Planning Committee of World Water Day and brought stakeholders, including the Ghana Urban Water Company (GUWC) and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), together to dialogue on how best to tackle the water challenges facing the country.

This year’s World Water Day celebration was on the theme; “International Year of Water Cooperation”.

“As a country, this theme is a call on us to reflect on the state of our local and international waters and also take action on the best ways of equitably sharing water in order to meet the ever-growing demands,” Mr Dauda said.

He particularly called on the political leadership in the country, community leaders, traditional authorities and the media to educate the people to appreciate the need for everybody to be more responsible towards water use and conservation.

Mr Dauda expressed worry over the degradation of water bodies through illegal activities that posed massive threat to health, aggravated scarcity and created disputes among users and communities.

He said the government would keep supporting the Volta Basin Authority in carrying out its mandate of ensuring the equitable sharing and sustained development and management of the Volta basin.

That, he said, would encourage and promote cooperation with riparian neighbours who shared water resources with Ghana to further enhance peace, security and sustainable economic growth.

In his welcoming address, the acting Managing Director of the GUWC, Mr Senyo Amengor, said the objective of this year’s celebration was to raise awareness of both the potential for increased cooperation and on the challenges facing water management, in light of the increase in demand for water access, allocation and services.

“The year will highlight the history of successful water cooperation initiatives, as well as identify burning issues on water education, water diplomacy, trans-boundary water management, financing cooperation, national/international legal frameworks and the linkages with the Millennium Development Goals,” he said.

He said attention would be focused more on the importance of fresh water and advocacy for the sustainable management of fresh water resources.

“It also will provide an opportunity to capitalise on the momentum created at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) and support the formulation of new objectives that will contribute towards developing water resources that are truly sustainable,” he said.

Mr Amengor said the national planning committees had organised a series of activities to sensitise the general public to the importance of conserving fresh water resources.

Story by Domic Moses Awiah