Today Is World Water Day-Ghanaians Need Quality, An Ngo Tells The Government

The Centre for Human Development and Social Change,Ghana aka CHDSCGhana, a Ghanaian Non-Governmental organisation has called on the government of Ghana to provide good quality drinkable water for its citizens to prevent many water- borne diseases that plaque communities with no access to quality water source. This statement is contained in the NGO's Message for the local celebration of global observation of the World's Water Day today scheduled for Enyan Maim and Baafikrom near Mankessimin the Central region.

The UN General Assembly designated the first World Water Day in 1993, and on 22 March every year since, the focus has been on a different aspect of freshwater sustainability. World Water Day, March 22nd is therefore, an International Day set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness of the need for quality drinkable water and how lack of, affects the health of communities around the world. Water is the basic necessity for all living beings on the planet. Without water, it is difficult for humans, animals as well as the vegetation to survive. In a statement in 2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that more people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war. He further stated that water is vitally linked to all UN development goals including maternal and child health and life expectancy, food security and sustainable development. On behalf of UN-Water a three-day celebration for World Water Day took place in Nairobi, Kenya in 2011, bringing together scientists and policy-makers to discuss how to address the challenges posed by degrading water quality worldwide.

It is children that are most affected by world water problems, one child under the age of five dies every 20 seconds from water-related diseases, according to the UN Environment Program (UNEP). In a new publication, entitled Clearing the Waters: A focus on Water Quality Solutions, the agency points out that in some developing nations, more than half of treated water is lost to leaks, but by some estimates, saving just half of the water could benefit 90 million people without additional investment. Additionally they argue that an investment of $20 million in low-cost water technologies, such as drip irrigation and treadle pumps, could potentially lift 100 million families out of extreme poverty.

The world is today facing a common problem of concentration of population in the urban areas. This problem has affected the water problem in many major cities. For example, locally in Ghana, in many parts of the major cities ie. Accra, Kumasi,Tamale,Tema, Sunyani, Sekondi-Takoradi, Cape Coast etc most of the communities and suburbs, water shortage is a major challenge for them. In almost every corner of the country communities face one or two problems with quality drinking water.

As part of the observation the CHDSCGhana is organising community sensitization programme at Enyan-Maim and Baafikrom to educate the people about the need to stop contamination of the river Aminsah which is the source of water for the Baafikrom Water Company which processes the water for the Mfantseman Municipal Area.