The Ancient Mariner’s ‘Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink’ as composed by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge can pass for the situation in many parts of the world today.
The poem is relevant to us today as we commemorate World Water Day, March 22.
The state of potable water today leaves much to be desired; many parts of the world still struggling with not only the protection of its sources but its management.
A day like today is intended to trigger worthwhile discourses about the importance of this source of life and how to protect it.
Water governance as management of potable water and making same available to humanity is a critical subject whose relegation to the background can be costly to humanity.
With climate change fast taking its hold on the world even as many hardly reflect upon the anomaly, it is important to push the subject of water, potable one of course, to the front burner.
Erratic rains and other side effects of climate change are enough to prompt thoughts about our management of water since after all rains feed many of the rivers holding it.
Today, in Ghana, our major rivers have been threatened by illegal mining activities. So bad is the situation that some of these rivers can no longer continue serving their use as source of water for especially villages along their banks. The illegal activities of small scale miners have also increased the cost of water treatment borne by the state.
Doable water policies should be considered sincerely by governments so that this life-source will be available to all. Sources of water and the protection of these must be considered in all water discussions at the policy level.
The felling of trees along river banks constitutes one of the very serious degradations which impact negatively on one of our water sources and ecosystem.
Water, and of course treated one, which we drink for our sustenance among other uses, comes to us at a cost, a fact we often take for granted.
Water is so critical that many have rather it transcends international politics. In many parts of the world, water traverses multinational frontiers and often becomes the source of disagreements, as in the case of the River Nile which is shared by multiple countries in the North of Africa and beyond.
Locally, our own Volta River, the source of both water for human consumption and the generation of electricity, is shared by both Ghana and Burkina Faso.
When the Sahelian country vents its Bagre Dam, we catch cold downstream.
Water, unfortunately, is taken for granted and where it is provided, the cost falls below what the state injects into its treatment and distribution.
Instances of burst water pipelines abound in our urban settings. In some cases, such spectacles last many months until somebody’s conscience is pricked to call the attention of the water management authorities to halt the wastage.
On a day like today, let us reflect about how best to manage water which although look infinite is not.
Those with access to potable water, it is a fact, are reckless about its management. The same persons tend to manage it well when the taps go dry during maintenance or so.
Let us use water wisely as consumers and protect its sources. Happy Water Day.