Ghana is making strides in addressing water challenges - Minister

Madam Cecilia Dapaah, Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources has stated that Ghana is making strides in addressing the water challenges to enhance the delivery of safe, potable and affordable water to the citizenry and trans-sectoral water resources management.

This is because Ghana had implemented various programmes towards improving water availability and conservation through promoting water use efficiency with a focus on water re-use and recycling, developing multi-purpose conservancy facilities to serve multi-uses and restoring natural infrastructures such as wetlands and flood plains.

Madam Dapaah’s statements were made known in a release signed by Nelson Kofi Akatey, Public Relations Officer and copied to the Ghana News Agency, after she had led a three-member government delegation to attend the UNESCO International Water Conference in Paris, France.

The International Conference was the first to be organised by UNESCO and was on the theme ‘Leveraging the Trans-Sectoral Management for Water Resources for Sustainable Water Security and Peace”.

She said, another programme being implemented by the Government was protecting the degraded river banks through the creation and management of buffers.

Madam Dapaah said Ghana was improving on the Institutional and Management Capacities to develop regulate and manage the utilisation of the Water resources in the country, adding that it was developing and administrating legal and regulatory instruments for protecting ecological areas and water sources from pollution.

The Minister said the government through the Ministry was also strengthening trans-boundary water resources by considering contemporary global and regional conventions and protocols appropriate for the Ghanaian context.

On the sideline of the conference, the Minister had bilateral engagement meetings with Mr. Eddy Moors, the Rector for UNESCO on capacity building to address water pollution in Ghana as well as Mr LoicFauchon the President of the World Water Council.

The other members of the delegation included; Mr Ben Ampomah, Executive Director, Community Water and Sanitation Agency and Ms. Suzzy Abaido of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.

The conference brought together actors and partners in the Water Sector from over 126 countries including; 40 Ministers of states as well as International experts and organisations to share holistic, innovations and sustainable approaches to resolve issues impacting the governance and management of water.