Public Agenda (Accra)
Frederick Asiamah
30 July 2010
Much of the acute water shortages experienced in some parts of Accra in the last couple of weeks can be blamed on road contractors, says Dr Hannah Louisa Bisiw, Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing.
According to her, some road contractors had broken several pipelines, including ten-inch pipes, but had failed to make contact with the Ministry's engineers to restore the lines. She, however, failed to name the particular road contractors whose activities had interrupted water supply.
She said this in her prelude to a seven-page keynote address which she delivered to formally open the 21st Annual Mole Conference in Accra. The July 20-24 conference, organized by the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in the Water and Sanitation sector (CONIWAS), was on the theme: Global Climate Change: A Challenge for the Wash Sector in Ghana.
Dr Bisiw also admitted that the water shortages could partly be attributed to a recent one-day shutdown of the Weija Treatment Plant.
About a fortnight ago, Aqua Vitens Rand Ltd. (AVRL), which operates urban water on behalf of Ghana Water Company Ltd. (GWCL), announced the shutdown of the Weija Treatment Plant to allow for routine maintenance works.
Despite considerable strides made in the delivery of safe drinking water, Ghana still grapples with frequent widespread shortage, especially in urban centres resulting from obsolete equipment, low maintenance culture and limited finance for water infrastructure through national budgets.
It is believed the situation has put a damper on Ghana's efforts at meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water. Hon Alban Bagbin, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, is on record to have said that "By the end of 2009, about 59% of Ghana's population had access to improved drinking water supply", meaning many more people must gain access to potable water in order to achieve the MDG target of 78% by 2015.
Since 1989, water has dominated discussions at the Mole series. The annual event is named after the Mole Game Reserve where the very first conference was held in 1989. That reserve is the biggest game reserve in Ghana, situated just 18 kilometers from Damongo, the District capital of the West Gonja District.
According to the organizers, the Mole series "has evolved from what was primarily an NGO forum into perhaps the most important multi-stakeholder platform within the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector."
This year, CONIWAS chose to focus on Climate Change which has been described by United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, as "...a serious threat to development everywhere; indeed, the adverse impacts of Climate Change could undo much of the investment made to achieve the Millennium Development Goals."
According to expert opinion, Climate Change threatens to erode human freedoms and limit choices. This negative impact is clearly of global concern but the adverse consequence is felt across the entire geographic and political divide, from mega-cities through smaller towns to grassroots rural communities.
Addressing the subject, Dr Bisiw stated that empirical evidence pointed to myriad impacts of Climate Change with water resources probably suffering most. "Experts estimate that globally, not less than 1.7 billion people suffer from water scarcity, and if Climate Change continues the figure will rise to 5 billion by 2025," she recounted.
Narrowing down on Ghana, the Minister noted that "Based on predicted Climate Change scenarios for Ghana, increased temperature and reduced rainfall will increase the risk of guinea worm infestation" and hunger and malnutrition could result from decreasing food supplies occasioned by droughts and extreme weather conditions.
Also, the impact of Climate Change on marginalized groups, including women and children could also affect their health and wellbeing as they are generally more vulnerable to the threat of climate change.
As part of addressing the situation, Dr. Bisiw implored CONIWAS to use their expertise as advocates to sensitize communities on the threat posed by Climate Change to livelihoods.
Earlier, Mr. Thomas Imoro Sayibu, Chairman of CONIWAS, assured that his outfit was well positioned to support communities to reduce livelihood vulnerability and help develop adaptive and coping strategies in the use of water resources. This, he said, will be done through promotion of participatory and bottom-up dialogue to integrated water resources management.
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