Surface water pollution, environmental destruction reducing groundwater quality – WRC

The incessant destruction of vegetative cover and pollution of surface water bodies is reducing quality of groundwater and volumes of drinking water, Mr Jesse Kazapoe, Head of White Volta River Basin of the Water Resources Commission (WRC) has warned.

Illegal mining, indiscriminate disposal of solid and liquid waste, excessive use of chemicals for farming activities and lack of treatment systems for sewage continues to destroy the environment and water bodies and threatened the country’s access to quality water for domestic and industrial purposes.

“Our reliance on groundwater is between 70 to 80 percent for the entire White Volta Basin, that means that groundwater makes up the bulk of our domestic water supply”, he said.

“Our very big rivers are the major sources of groundwater recharge and so if we don’t address the environmental issues now, in the near future we will be at risk of water,” he said.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of media engagement in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, Mr Kazapoe warned that apart from spending huge sums of money to treat polluted water, the country would import water soon if the menace of environment pollution were not addressed immediately.

The media engagement, organised by the WRC formed part of the implementation of the Blue Deal Project, an integrated approach to nature-based solutions in the White Volta Basin with funding support from the Dutch Water Authorities.

The project seeks to promote access to clean and safe water to over 20 million people worldwide, through building capacity of governmental institutions and other major stakeholders to help in the service delivery.

The Head of White River Volta Basin noted that what was making the pollution of water bodies worse was the continuous destruction of the vegetative cover including the felling of trees without replanting.

“The trees were there and serving as blockage and some of them were trapping these rubbish and rubbers and preventing them from entering our water bodies, but we are cutting down the trees and once you cut down the trees, the shrubs and the grasses that grow under them that would have stopped these pollutants from getting into the water bodies now have a free way because all those grasses are also dead,” he lamented.

He explained that apart from the shortage of drinking water, which was a foreseen challenge, the destruction of the water bodies also posed health complications to many communities and underscored a need to address the challenge.

He urged the major stakeholders in the water value chain to ensure that the environment and water bodies were protected, “there is the need for us to protect the little water resources we have, other than that when the demand goes up, we will have issues.”

Mr Aaron Bundi Aduna, Blue Deal Project Manager WRC, noted that the Blue Deal Project in Ghana which focused on the Lower Volta Basin and the White Volta Basin, sought to ensure that livelihoods of dwellers were protected while providing safe water for them.

Mr Kwesi Yirenkyi, the Public Relations Officer, WRC, noted that the media had significant role to play in protecting water resources and appealed to the Journalists to work to support the Commission’s efforts to protect water resources.

Source: GNA

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