body-container-line-1

Gov't will protect water bodies – Water Resources Minister-designate

By MyJoyOnline
General News Gov't will protect water bodies – Water Resources Minister-designate
FEB 1, 2017 LISTEN

The Water Resources Minister-designate says the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) would prioritise the protection of water bodies across the country.

Joseph Kofi Adda says they would ensure that the rivers and lakes are free from threat by encroachers.

Reacting to a question before Parliament’s Appointments Committee Wednesday, the Navrongo Central Member of Parliament (MP) said the NPP government would address the acute water challenges.

Potable water sources in the country are diminishing at a rate experts say is alarming. If steps are not taken to resolve the situation there is likely to be water crisis by 2030.

Water bodies in some parts of the country – Obuasi and Tarkwa – have been poisoned as a result of mining activities.

212017706394905220828122961130296811

The use of machines by some illegal miners has turned water bodies in these areas into milky, silted streams which some experts say would be difficult to purify.

The Odaw River in Accra is dead and not suitable for drinking.

WACAM – a non-governmental organisation involved in advocacy works in mining communities decried the development and urged government in 2009 to collaborate with private organisations to provide portable drinking water to inhabitants.

The erstwhile President John Mahama’s government set the target of extending water coverage in every part of the country to 100 percent by 2025.

Ghana currently has rural and urban water coverage rate of 76 percent, merely 24 percent short of the target.

But Mr Adda said they would drill about 25,000 boreholes across major parts of Ghana to address water challenges.

“We know the constraints,” he said, adding the NPP is committed to making funds available for this to be carried out.

“My duty as a cabinet member is to put the relevant information [before the President]...for more boreholes to be [constructed].”

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | [email protected]

body-container-line