Celebrated annually on 22nd March, World Water Day raises awareness and inspires action to tackle the water and sanitation crisis.
World Water Day 2023 focused on accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis. World Water Day became a UN observance day in 1993 and seeks to focus attention on the global water crisis.
According to the United Nations website, the idea behind celebrating the day is to “support the achievement of sustainable development goal (SDG) 6: Water and Sanitation for all by 2030.”
The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) says that despite the challenges it faces, it has achieved significant milestones in the provision of safe and sustainable water services to Ghanaians.
The company has replaced and installed pumps of various types in most of its headworks to increase production to meet the demands of its customers. Additionally, bulk and commercial metres are also being replaced to enhance accurate reading and billing.
To meet the continuous demand for water and resonate with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 6 of ensuring water access for all by 2030, GWCL is expanding several water treatment plants and constructing new ones.
To fulfil its commitment to delivering safe water, GWCL, with the support of the government, has invested close to US$700million in nine projects throughout the country in the last five years.
Currently, access to potable water in urban areas stands at 93 percent, including all interventions made by stakeholders within the urban water space.
However, the national demand for urban water is 321 million gallons per day (MGD), while production is 199 MGD. GWCL, in collaboration with the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, is working to close the gap between the demand and supply, which is approximately 122 MGD.
During the World Water Day celebration, the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, highlighted the negative impact of human activities on water quality globally, including Ghana, and the need to protect and preserve the quality and quantity of water bodies for present and future generations.
GWCL has achieved 99 percent compliance to the six key operational water quality parameters, which are pH, colour, alkalinity, turbidity, residual chlorine and bacteriological analysis.
Governments will need to work four times faster, on average, to meet their SDG6 targets by 2030. Partnerships and cooperation will be essential to accelerate progress toward SDG 6.
