By Fatima Anafu- Astanga
Bolgatanga, Nov. 15, GNA- Mr Stephen Yakubu, Upper East Regional Minister has urged the Traditional Authority in Bongo to bring their authority to bear on water resources in their various communities to ensure they are properly managed for the benefit of all people.
He reiterated the level of pollution in the region’s water resources ranging from the White and Black Volta basins to the Vea and Tamne dams in the Upper East Region that increased challenges in managing the water resources.
The said major sources of surface and groundwater were polluted by the day as a result of farming activities on the river banks, discharges of faecal matter due to open defecation and mining activities among others.
He made the appeal during a knowledge-sharing capacity-building workshop for chiefs of the Bongo traditional area in Bolgatanga organized by the Water Resources Commission (WRC) in collaboration with Blue Deal of the Dutch Water Authorities.
“The result has threatened the quality of the water resulting in diverse health-related problems and of much concern is the fluoride contamination of ground water especially in the Bongo district resulting in dental fluorosis in the area”. The Regional Minister stated.
He expressed gratitude to the WRC, its partners the Dutch Water Authorities and Blue Deal and counterparts from Burkina Faso Water basins for the collaboration which he said was significant for the Vea catchment and Bongo district at large.
He called for a critical look at Ghana’s Buffer Zone Policy and the need for communities to adhere to the policy for effective address of challenges of siltation and grey water pollution created by the Gowrie Senior High to the Vea dam.
Mr Yakubu called on the WRC as a government agency for regulation, management and utilisation of water resources to educate communities and the public on the negative effects of farming within the buffer zones, and pollution into the water resources and called on chiefs to use the knowledge sharing workshop to enhance the capacities as traditional custodians to create a sense of community ownership and sustainability.
The Regional Minister also called for strategic measures and coordination among stakeholders for effective management of water for equitable development of communities.
Mr Aaron Aduna, Project Manager of Blue Deal in a presentation on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), Religion, Tradition and Legislation stressed the interconnectedness of the sectors to water governance.
He said the traditional authorities were key stakeholders and custodians of natural resources whose roles in decision-making could bring improvement in the management of water resources in communities and therefore appealed for the strengthening of such roles.
Naba Salifu Alemyarum, Chief of the Bongo Traditional area, said the law had taken precedence with human rights regulations having limited actions over what chiefs could do as compared to the past where chiefs had traditional police who could crack the whip on violators of community rules on natural resources.
He mentioned activities of sand mining, stone quarrying and galamsey that had become rife in many communities causing degradation of water resources and called on the government to address the gaps and make chiefs more functional to help in the running and management of natural resources.
Mr Andrew Asaviansa, Assistant Basin Officer of WRC gave an overview of already held engagements with the chiefs on the water resource in the area among which issues discussed included the fluoride in boreholes, silted dams, inadequate water supply and information flow on the Bagre Dam spillage among others.
Current and ongoing interventions by the WRC and partners in the basin constituting the Kpasenkpe sub-basin which Bongo district is one of the six districts constituting the sub-basin affected by degradation in the Vea and Tamne dams.
Other districts under the sub-basin are the Nabdam, Talensi, Bongo and Bolgatanga East District Assemblies and the Bolgatanga and Kassena Nankana municipalities with other key stakeholders such as the Irrigation Company of Upper East Region (ICOUR), which are managers of the Vea dam.
Mr Asaviansa said ongoing activities included a tree-growing project to restore protected areas and sensitization activities undertaken by Tree Aid Ghana and plans to build the capacity of the traditional authority to enforce community by-laws through training and education and empowerment of district tasks force volunteers.
GNA.