World Water Day

THIS year’s Water Day has been marked with a call on stakeholders to recognise that the survival of every nation depends on the proper management and utilisation of its water resources.
The day, which was on the theme: “Shared Water, Shared Opportunities”, with focus on transboundary water, was to draw attention to the use of integrated water resource management tools to promote co-operation in nations and shared water basins for all water users and their communities.
At a flag-hoisting ceremony held in Accra to mark the day, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Albert Abongo, said the theme for the celebration was a call on Ghana and its neighbours to come together to be more responsible towards water usage and conservation for their mutual benefit.
Mr Abongo said the day was also aimed at inspiring political, community and media attention and action, as well as to encourage greater understanding of the need to manage water resources for future generations.
He said the way transboundary waters were protected, managed and used would affect the successful achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and safeguard human security and development.
“Indeed, 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,” he said.
The minister noted that fortunately for Ghana, priorities had been gradually set towards ensuring the provision of good drinking water and sanitation-related services, as well as productive water for the increasing population in the rural and urban areas of the country.
Mr Abongo said in an effort to ensure sustainable availability of water for Ghana and its neighbours, Ghana had played a leading role in the establishment of a Volta Basin Authority (VBR).
This, he said, was realised through the ratification of a convention by the six riparian countries of Burkina Faso, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Mali and Ghana.
The minister, therefore, encouraged everyone to seriously consider adopting simple but important water conservation and utilisation techniques in order to address the water situation in Ghana.
In his message, which was read on his behalf by the UNESCO representative, Mrs Elizabeth Moundo, the United Nation’s Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, said while the world’s population was growing and consuming more freshwater, climate change was making less water available in many regions of the world.
He said as rainfall became less predictable, floods and droughts became more extreme, making it vital to manage water and balance the varied need carefully.
The Secretary General said there were about 300 international water agreements, often among parties that were otherwise at odds with each other.
These agreements, he said, demonstrated the potential of the use of shared water resources to foster trust and promote peace among nations.
For his part, the UNESCO Director-General, Koichiro Matsuura, whose message was delivered by Dr Abu Amani of the United Nations office in Accra, said water affected all aspects of human life, from health and sanitation to food, from the environment and ecosystem to the industry and the energy that powered development.
“Yet this vital resource is under threat. The amount of water we have has remained constant for thousands of years while the number and type of users have increased massively,” he said.
Earlier in the day, a street procession on the theme: “End Water Poverty”, was held as part of activities marking the day.
The procession, which started from the office of the Water Resource Commission, ended at the Holy Gardens, Kwame Nkrumah Circle. The processors held placards with such inscriptions as, “Water is life, Water is Precious, 500 children die every day from water-related diseases, Clean water is my right” amid brass band music.