The University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) has called on the government to set up a specialised body to police and protect the country’s water bodies from pollution and destruction.
The university believes a policy document to encourage households to invest in rainwater harvesting technologies is key to ensuring the safety of residents in hard to reach areas without potable water.
“There’s no official body responsible for policing our water bodies but water is very essential and for that matter am calling on government to set up a specialized body to protect and prevent the destruction of our water bodies, University’s School of Natural and Environmental Sciences dean said to Citi News.
Dr Seth Owusu a lecturer with the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences who gave a presentation on rainwater harvesting also called on the government to invest in rainwater harvesting infrastructure.
“Water is a big issue now globally and especially in African regions with high temperatures and hot climatic conditions, we have limited access to fresh water source and therefore there is the need to look for alternative water sources and rainwater harvesting is one of the big sources we can invest in.”
“It will surprise you to know that less than 1 percent of our water use is from rainwater harvesting, it is not even up to 1 percent but looking at the amount of rainfall we get yearly we have a lot of rain that we can harvest and use”.
Richard Amfo Otu, a lecturer and a member of the Research Committee also noted that a policy on rainwater harvesting can reduce the annual flood situations in the country.
“We need to encourage households to begin investing in rainwater harvesting as a means to supplement our water system and also control flooding in our major cities because you will see that a lot people are putting up beautiful houses but they do not have rainwater harvesting infrastructure and all their houses are paved so they contribute to the runoffs accounting to the flooding of the cities so if we have a policy encouraging households to engage in rainwater harvesting it will be very helpful for the country.”
Water rationing in Eastern Region
Currently, the Ghana Water Company Limited is rationing water in the Eastern Region.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the water company Kwadwo Daase, activities of illegal miners, chainsaw operators and contractors working on various road projects in the country continue to hinder their smooth operations.
The GWCL has occasionally been forced to shut down its water treatment plants at Kyebi, Osino, Bunso and other areas largely due to the high turbidity in the raw water source from the effects rigorous continuous of illegal mining activities in those areas.
Mr. Daase called on residents to bear with the company during rationing and urged them to store enough water.