The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned that the continuous discharge of untreated municipal waste water into rivers, lagoons, estuaries and the ocean exposes the coastal population to serious health hazards.
According to the EPA, such activities thwarted the implementation of sustainable development projects along the coast.
It has, therefore, called for an immediate end to the practice.
This came to light at a workshop on Municipal Wastewater Management, on the theme: “Improving waste water management in coastal cities”.
In his remarks, the Director of the EPA, Mr John A. Pwamang, said in the past many of the lagoons, rivers and estuaries were in good shape and produced fish for consumption but were currently seriously polluted.
He said African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries faced daunting challenges in addressing their municipal wastewater problems, and stressed the need to tackle it immediately to save the coastal cities.
Mr Pwamang said wastewater was being channelled into the water bodies because of the lack of effective wastewater management.
In the developed countries, he said, wastewater was always treated and reused but the situation was different in ACP countries, and the wastewater had found their way into rivers and lagoons.
“It is sad that because people can fish tilapia fingerlings from it, fry them for the dining table we think everything is all right; there is more to it than the fingerlings we obtain from the waterbodies. The lagoons and the rivers are dying with their negative implication for the health of the coastal population,” he said.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr A. E. Amoah, who performed the opening ceremony said the country’s coastal zone was well endowed with natural resources, which were exploited by different sectors of the economy.
“The major primary activity of the zone is fishing and other activities of economic importance which take place along the coast are agriculture, transportation, salt production, oil and gas exploration, sand and stone winning as well as recreational and industrial activities,” he said.
He commended the EPA and the sponsors for organising the training for the people to ensure that people were made aware of the importance of wastewater management and the need to keep the lagoon and rivers alive.
The regional minister said the government recognised the strategic importance of the coastal areas and their associated problems from land-based sources by starting to address the dilemma while developing sub-regional collaboration with neighbours to combat the problem.
“Coastal management was identified as a priority in the country’s national environmental action plan since early 90s. The government has been putting in place interventions to arrest the degradation of the coastal zone,” he said.
He said the government had adopted an integrated and cross-sectorial approach to the management of the coastal zones.
He expressed the hope that the workshop would afford the participants the opportunity to build their capacity and come up with laudable projects that would save the situation and ensure proper management of wastewater.
The workshop was jointly organised by UNEP/GPA, EPA, the Ghana Universities and Interim Guinea Current Commission (IGCC).
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