By Maxwell Awumah
Ho, March 21, GNA – Mr Francis Lamptey, Volta Regional Chief Manager of Ghana Water Limited (GWL) has entreated all and sundry to aspire and exalt change as a conscious effort to champion sustainable practices towards water conservation strategies.
He said this at the Volta Region’s week-long activities of the United Nations World Water Day celebration in Ho, on the theme, “Water Conservation.”
“Let us inspire change, champion sustainable practices, and ensure that future generations inherit a world, where water flows freely and fairly for all,” he said.
On a community engagement event, Mr Lamptey urged all to pledge to be mindful stewards of the precious resource and believing “Together, we can conserve water, Together, we can preserve life.”
Today, as we gather to commemorate the Water Day, he reminded the people of the essence of water to life and urged them ‘to reflect, to act, and most importantly, to conserve.’
He described water, as not merely a resource but one that is finite and a lifeblood of the planet that nourishes human body, sustains the ecosystem, and fuels industries and re-echoed the vitality of water.
Astonishingly, Chief Manager said less than one per cent of the Earth’s freshwater was accessible for human use, and yet, billions of people across the globe faced water scarcity daily.
This year’s theme, “Water Conservation,” according to Mr Lamptey compelled humanity to take a closer look at interactions with water daily stating that “Every drop must count, and every action matters. Conservation is not just a necessity; it is our responsibility.”
He emphasised that approximately 2.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and drew attention that unsustainable practices including heavy pollution such as ‘galamsey’ and climate change are depleting our water sources.
“It is appalling that some nation-wreckers are turning the Garden of Eden fresh water in the Volta Lake to garden of Satan,” destroying the resource with wanton abuse.”
He said a study stated by 2025, half of the world’s population could be living in water-stressed areas with evidence evolving already across the world.
In the face of these challenges, Mr Lamptey said there was hope and only collective actions at conservation, which starts with simple, yet powerful, steps of fixing leaky taps and pipes to prevent wastage could lead the way.
He added that deploying reuse and recycling techniques, adopting water-efficient technologies and practices and educating the masses about the value of water is crucial.
He said as individuals, communities and country, humans were capable and had the wherewithal to make a difference by valuing the resource, by shifting collective mindset from abundance to appreciation and from wasteful to wisdom.
Mr Philip Agbezudor, Volta Regional Director of Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) urged the audience to reflect on the future availability of the resource as human and environmental factors are constantly shrinking the commodity.
He said the reason regulators and managers of the resource were skeptical about the development at the Kpeve Headworks of the GWL, where a developer had cleared trees on the buffer zone and exposing bare land, near the intake point of the reservoir, left much to be desired.
The PURC Director said the Kpeve issue was a looming danger that demanded holistic measures to ameliorate the challenge and urged major actors to lead the charge for right.
He advised the public to avoid leakages of pipes and taps as that could lead to higher bills and appealed that water catchment areas must constantly be protected.
The production, commercial and water quality assurance units took turns to educate and highlight the operations to of GWL to the public, bringing the Company closer to their clients.
The week-long activities include; clean-up exercise, community engagement, radio talk show and health walk, climaxing on Saturday.
GNA
MA/GRB