Ghana water treatment up 92 per cent in 2012

The cost of chemicals for water treatment in Ghana is set to increase by 92 per cent in 2012, according to the Minister of Water Resources, who expressed great concern over the escalating prices.

Enoch Teye Mensah, minister of water resources, works and housing recently disclosed the figures relating to water quality, calling for solutions to the increasing costs. He pointed to poor land use practices as being one of the chief factors responsible for the price hike, with illegal mining around river bodies, encroachment on buffer zone along river banks, intrusion of sea water into the river systems and industrial and domestic discharges also been blamed.

He added that urban water services delivery was being significantly undermined by severe water pollution from illegal miners, emphasising that a response to such practices is necessary in order to resolve the problem.

"We shall publish these facts in the media in the coming weeks so that Ghanaians will see the danger that is lurking around the corner and seek your support in the implementation of the harsh but necessary measures which will have to be taken to secure our very lives," he said.

Posted by Claire Manning