WATER IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT

Laura White - Projects Abroad

World water day was celebrated in Cape Coast University today with a conference on the responsibilities of both the government and the public to ensure safe water for all. The Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis through the words of Mr. Samuel Obiri addressed the UN Resolution of September 2010 claiming that Water is a Basic Human Right, and therefore every human being should have access to safe water. With the focus of WWD being “Water and Urbanisation”, the focus of the conference was very much to examine potential methods for improving water supply to urban area in the Central Region.

 

With over two million people contracting water-borne diseases such as Cholera, and perishing as a result, the call for clean water to rapidly developing urban areas is an urgent requirement. Clean and safe water is a basic requirement for life, allowing for hygiene and safety of the whole family. In Ghana the Urban Water Policy was introduced in 2007, with a view to addressing clean water accessibility and improvement of sanitation facilities. Mr. Obrimi stressed the importance of both Government and the citizens of Ghana to “honour their commitments to these policies”. His criticism that the UWP was a set of guidelines and not legislation, making the commitments more voluntary for officials is one of the leading reasons for the lack of substantial improvement. He urged that decision makers review their legislation on sanitation and water treatment making it a legal entitlement for all citizens to have access to clean potable water. He suggested that by punishing pollution of water sources severely and developing sub sector policies it will allow local officials to deal with problems more efficiently.

Mr. Obrimi also focused on the public responsibility to ensuring safe drinking water and its accessibility. With an estimated 52% of the Ghanaian population living in an Urban Environment, and that number constantly growing in number, he stressed the importance of public pressure to bring about change. He urged a commitment of resources, both financial and physical into developing water sources for local communities and urged collective pressure on local government to maintain these vital sources once installed. He also highlighted the responsibility of the general public to punish and discourage polluting of precious water sources, and responsible disposal of waste water from their homes. In general its the slum populations of cities and towns that suffer most. According to the Ghana Water Company’s assement criteria, urban drinking water supply coverage in 2008 was 58% with approximately two thirds of peri-urban settlements relying on neighbors and private water vendors for their water supply paying up to twelve times the price of their more wealthy neighbors. With annual urban population growth at an estimated 3.5% in Ghana, and the population of Africa and Asia set to double between 2000 and 2030, inadequacies with water are bound to grow if there are no sustained measures aimed at addressing the problem. 

The CEIA also alleged that the ongoing deforestation for mining was affecting the provision of clean and potable water supplies for urban areas. With little or no restriction of the dumping of waste water into rivers used to provide local urban population with potable water, the government is crippling itself in its attempts to change. For example a study conducted by CEIA between 2008 and 2009, named the WACAM Water Report revealed that all 250 rivers in the Tarwa and Obuasi mining regions were contaminated with high levels of toxic chemicals or contaminants causing massive financial strain on the Ghana Water Board converting and purifying the water for public use.  As a result of pollution by human activities, according to the GWB, the River Densu is a particular strain on the water treatment plant in Weija.

 

In the words of Kofi Annan addressing the world on World Water Day in 2000, “access to safe water is a fundamental human need and, therefore, a basic human right. Contaminated water jeopardizes both the physical and social health of all people. It is an affront to human dignity.” With companies like Helio Tech Ltd, a german based organization providing simple and renewable desalinization technology for Ghana, using solar power to process clean and safe drinking water. The problem of supplying electricity to rural areas no longer becomes an issue, with the technology totally reliant on the power of the sun. It also promises to purify or desalinate between 50 and 5000 litres of water daily, needing only the reliable natural resources of the sun and sea. Although the technology was introduced in April 2009, it has yet to be manipulated to its full potential in Ghana. However with the looming approach of the Deadline for the Millenium Development Goals set by the UN in 2015, perhaps this is an attractive method for change that should be seriously considered.