Poor Water Supply In Ghana Due To High Levels Of Pollution – Sanitation Ministry

The Sanitation and Water Resources Ministry has also blamed the irregular supply of water on the pollution of water bodies by human activities. The Deputy Sanitation Minister, Issahaku Chinnia, said this in Parliament on Tuesday. He stated that pollution from domestic and industrial activities is a major challenge affecting the

provision of potable water across the country. He told the House that Ghana’s ground water resources are reputable for high quality, except for some localized cases of pollution and the incidence of high level iron, fluoride and other minerals. “Currently, several parts of Accra suffer poor water supply due to high levels of

pollution caused by human activities. It affects the turbidity of the water and makes it expensive to treat the raw water. Large volumes of this raw water are also lost in the process and consequently, water supply to home becomes hampered,” he said. He added that the challenge makes it expensive to maintain equipment at

the water treatment plant because of the high turbidity of the raw water. According to him, data from the 2021 Population and Housing Census shows that the three main sources of water for households are sachet; constituting about 37.4 per cent, pipe borne water, about 31.7 per cent and borehole and tube well, which

is about 17.7 percent. In rural areas, groundwater as source of water constitutes about 33.6 percent while pipe borne water is about 28.8 percent. “It is worth noting that there are some urban areas in the Upper East and Upper West regions where 80 per cent of the population depend on groundwater for water supply.

Although the statistics look dire, there is a lot more to be done to protect groundwater as a viable and safer alternative,” he added. Meanwhile, to commemorate World Water Day today, March 22, the Deputy Sanitation Minister observed that government is working to ensure regular water supply across the country. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Groundwater, making the invisible visible.”