By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The Acting Upper West Regional Director of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), Ato Quansah has stressed the need for burial spots in rural Communities to be well marked or delineated to avoid the sinking of boreholes at those spots in future. He made the call at the inauguration of the Wa North District Office of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) at Wa.
The event was also used to celebrate World Water Day. Mr Ato Quansah noted that as a result of the reverence Africans have for the dead, sometimes make them bury their loved ones close to their homes, without raising embankments for the graves.
He indicated that the practice compromises the harnessing of groundwater in rural areas.
“After several years when we have used only sand to cover them [the graves] we come back to realise that there is no defined place where we can say somebody has been buried, then go back to the same place to drill a borehole. Regardless of whatever efforts we are putting in, we are unlikely to drink wholesome water. For those of us who are within the rural catchments, this is one of the problems we are facing so far as ground water harnessing is concerned.”
The Regional Chief Manager of GWCL, Mrs Serena Kwakye-Mintah observed that the opening of another office in Wa has brought the company’s services closer to the people and entreated them to honour the financial obligations to the company for it to deliver improved services.
Commenting on World Water Day, Mrs Kwakye-Mintah indicated that it is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis. She noted that a core focus of World Water Day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: “Water and Sanitation for all by 2030.”
The Board Director of GWCL, Kwame Amporfo Twumasi called for all hands to be on deck to protect water bodies and admonished staff to give Mrs Serena Kwakye-Mintah the needed push for her to perform well. The Upper West Regional Commander Ghana National Fire Service, Abraham Nii Dodoo advised the public not to site their property on fire hydrants.
He expressed appreciation to the GWCL for collaborating with the GNFS in respect of fire hydrants and appealed for more of the hydrants to be provided in the markets and at lorry stations to enhance the work of fire personnel.
A choir from the Wa Methodist School for the Blind was on hand to give renditions to spice up the occasion.
