Urgent LI Needed To Protect Water Bodies Fast Losing Their Wholesomeness.
Sunyani, December 11, 2022
Water and environmental experts are calling for an urgent Legislative Instrument (LI) to deal with perpetrators of activities causing harm to water bodies, making them losing their quality and wholesomeness for consumption.
“A severe drought is likely to hit the country in less than 10 years” a reliable source from the Ghana Water Company has predicted.
They expressed much worries, saying Ghana is sitting on a time bomb and likely to resort to potable water importation for citizens, “a situation that would favor only the financially fits in society and kill the ordinary innocent Ghanaians”.
Speaking during an environmental watch tour by this writer, they are in gripped fear that the increasing pollution of water tributaries through poor sanitation practices coupled with the galamsey could create a persisting canker to endanger the health of Ghanaians and the economy.
This is as a result of continues allowing scrupulous human activities to get the water bodies polluted.
In this report, sources have confirmed that some households in Sunyani have deliberately channeled their waste water (sewages) through pipes direct into the streams to heavily contaminate the water resources in the Municipality.
The attitude of continues and heavily dumping household rubbish and other forms of waste into gutters to be carried by drains into the streams are also on the ascendancy and making treatment of water for domestic purposes by the Ghana Water Company too difficult.
These situations are seriously endangering the achievement of Goal 3, 6, and 14 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This report is therefore asking the custodians of the land, the lands Commission and City authorities that:
1. Who sold the building plots?
2. Who issued building permits?
3. Who inspected the buildings?
4. If estate developers begins building without permits, who is mandated to inspect and monitor to ensure no nuisances were created to degrade or deplete the ecosystem?
The phenomenon of building in minor waterways and persistent cruelty towards the environment and impunity would escalate climate change crises in Ghana if not checked immediately.
Ghana would then have no option than to resort to potable water importation, “the survival of financial fittest would then be applied”.
Writer’s email: ttchrietoph1@gmail.com
