#MINISTRY OF SANITATION SEEKS FOR FUNDS TO COMBAT WATER POLLUTION

The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources is currently dealing with the challenge of water source pollution, requiring substantial funding to address this urgent issue.

In light of this, communities have encountered challenges in addressing water source pollution, requiring significant financial resources.

On the contrary, Mr. Noah Tumfo, the Chief Director for the Ministry, brought attention to the matter during a two-day National WASH coordination workshop held in Akosombo.

“We’re achieving a lot in water, providing water for most communities but the difficulty we’re having is with the pollution of water sources and so we’re having to spend more to treat the water, we’re having to also put in a heavy dose of chemicals to be able to make the water clean for consumption and it has its implications as well, in terms of financial cost and other cost. ” he said.

He also emphasized that the Ministry intends to visit any untreated boreholes for testing and implement the appropriate mechanisms to filter the water before it is used for domestic purposes.

“So, the major challenges are with the sources of our drinking water, as we speak, we intern even going into borehole testing, a lot of people just dig boreholes and start drinking, they do not test and I can assure you we have a lot of difficulties with boreholes especially if you don’t test them and put in the right mechanism to filter the water before we use for drinking.” he added.

Meanwhile, Vida Duti, the Director of the International Water and Sanitation Centre, recognized the progress made in achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

“We’ve made progress with sanitation but we’re lagging a bit behind, and that will require greater effort to be able achieve the target that we have for us. The progress in water,  we see it in more people having water on premise, we see it in the improvement at the service levels for the rural population as well with small town systems with borehole. If you look at all the SDGs, we have made progress.” she said

Nevertheless, she underscored the requirement for intensified efforts to ensure the achievability of the target by 2030.

“But then we still have about 11% of our population not having access to water and in that regard, we need to double our efforts, we need to provide more resources to be able to address the need of those that do not have. The interesting thing to is that, as you progress towards reaching everyone, you’ll face challenges of dealing with the hard-to-reach areas, areas with difficult Hydrological Formations, areas with serious water quality issues.” she added.