Water Crisis soon to be a thing of the past -Tamale Water Fund

As we all know, water is a scarce resource. It is even predicted that by 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas, a situation that has a very high potential of erupting extreme poverty across the world.

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) (2017/18) indicates that access to basic drinking water in the Northern Region stands at 50%, nonetheless, there is increasing demand by households, agriculture and industry, and the impacts of climate change have also contributed to putting water under extreme threat.

This situation calls for a reflection on what actions we need to take to address these challenges in compliance with the precautionary principle in the National Water Policy (NWP) (2007) that seeks to minimize activities that have the potential to negatively affect the integrity of all water resources

Tamale Water Fund (TWF)

Catholic Relief Services, through its Urban WASH and Resilience Project, is partnering with the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Sagnerigu Municipal Assembly, Ghana Water Company Limited, and other key stakeholders, to help address water security and sanitation challenges in Tamale.

According to the Head of programming CRS, Christina Gallagher, urban resilience is a priority area in CRE Regional and Country Strategic Plans, seeking to catalyze transformational change at scale, to build a more just, equitable, and prosperous world for all.

“As part of this commitment, the proposed establishment of a Water Fund for Tamale aims to facilitate source water protection at the Nawuni sub-catchment of the White Volta River by developing a sustainable development pathway within the basin.

“The overall goal is to utilize nature-based solutions (or green infrastructure) to improve both the quality and supply of water and mitigate the impact of natural disasters, as well as create a healthy living environment to protect and enhance biodiversity within the White Volta Basin,” she said.

She called on institutions and agencies, and development partners (NGOs, CBOs, FBOs, private sector, etc.) to collaborate to leverage each other’s resources and strengths to build resilient and dedicated institutions to deliver carefully thought-out interventions, as well as advocate for institutional and policy reforms that are required for effective WASH service delivery.

“I hope that the conversations that will follow in today’s session will generate ideas for the Water Fund’s model, stakeholder involvement, and roles in engaging the private sector to contribute to the Tamale Water Fund,” she added.

Northern Regional Minister

The Northern Regional Minister, Shani Alhassan Shaibu in his speech, delivered by the Northern Regional Economic Planning Officer, Alhaji Inusah Abukari, indicated that Tamale Metropolis rely mainly on pipe-borne water for drinking and other domestic uses.

He pointed out that the White Volta River is currently experiencing high levels of siltation mainly due to sand mining activities in and along its banks, increased agricultural practices and gold mining upstream, thus together with climate change variability, are threatening the river’s future capacity for supplying the required volume of water to the Tamale metropolis and its environs.

Nonetheless, he lauded government commitment to undertake the construction and expansion of water abstraction and treatment plants in Yendi and Yapei, as well as the construction of the Pwalugu multi-purpose dam.

“Government believes investments to improve water security challenges will help enhance human dignity while reducing expenses and the burden on health systems and contribute to easing the burden on women who travel long distances to access water,” he said.

He assured that the Government of Ghana will continue to work with all stakeholders in the WASH sector to improve the livelihoods of our people.

The minister acknowledged the tremendous contributions by the Catholic Relief Services for its developmental programs and efforts to mitigate water security challenges, especially in the northern parts of Ghana, touting it as a laudable initiative in the right direction.

Call for Collaboration

The minister thanked all development partners and traditional authorities who have contributed in various ways to improving water, sanitation and hygiene situations in Ghana, but also reminded them that a lot more effort is required.

“The perennial shortages and rationing of water in Tamale, as in many cities and towns in Ghana, are a wake-up call for us to put our important watersheds and aquifers in order.”

“Let us ensure effective collaboration among key sector players to ensure improved WASH service delivery,” he said.