By Daniel Agbesi Latsu
Kadjebi (O/R), Nov 29, GNA – Mr Wilson Kwami Agbanyo, Kadjebi District Chief Executive (DCE), has urged residents of the District to protect water bodies from pollution for a healthy life.
He said, “health is wealth and unfettered access to potable water is crucial to public health, so its pollution through indiscriminate faecal matter disposal and insanitary condition is hazardous to public health and had the propensity to drive a healthy man closer to the grave.”
The DCE said the protection of this infinite resource would also help achieve Sustainable Development Goal Six (SDG 6), which anchored on availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
Mr Agbanyo made these statements at the commemoration of the district’s 2022 World Toilet Day celebration on the theme: “Ground-water and Sanitation-Making the Invisible Visible” at Dodo-Pepesu in the Kadjebi District of the Oti Region.
He said the theme was appropriate as it reminded Ghanaians of the need to place sanitation and water resources on the highest pinnacle in their everyday lives.
“According to statistics, the population of Africa from 2000 to 2020 increased from 800 million to 1.3 billion and some 290 million people have access to basic sanitation facilities, but worryingly, 779 million still did not have access to basic sanitation facilities whist 209 million are practicing despicable open defaecation,” he said.
Mr. Agbanyo said the siting of pit latrines, toilets and septic tanks near water sources posed a serious threat to public health.
He said the contamination of underground water negatively impact humanity when sanitation issues were tackled haphazardly, leading to loss of lives.
The DCE commended UNICEF and World Vision Ghana for supporting 134 communities in the district to attain Open Defaecation Free status.
Mr. Elorm Kpotosu, the District Environmental Health Officer (DEHO), said the day aimed to raise awareness of the 3.6 billion people living without access to safely managed sanitation.
He said the day was about taking action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve SDG 6; sanitation and water for all by 2030.
Mr Kpotosu said the 2022 campaign “making the invisible visible” explored how inadequate sanitation systems spread human waste into rivers, lakes and soil polluting underground water resources.
He said the problem seemed invisible because it happens underground in the poorest and most marginalised communities.
He said ground water was the world’s most abundant source of fresh water supporting drinking water supplies, sanitation, farming, industry and ecosystem, but its survival is threatened by climate change and population growth.
Mr. Kpotosu called for safe sanitation management to protect underground water from human waste pollution.
GNA