Water pollution must be criminalized – Prof. Owusu-Sekyere

General News of Saturday, April 6, 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-04-06

A Don University has called for strict compliance with water pollution policies and the pursuit of companies and people who pollute them.

Professor Joshua Danso Owusu-Sekyere of the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) said that the criminalization of water pollution is a necessity given the high level of pollution of the water bodies of the country lately.

At his inaugural lecture on "In the abundance of water, food is thirsty" at UCC on Wednesday, Professor Owusu-Sekyere said that the lack of infrastructure and resources hurt managed over the years had prevented many people from accessing the water. .

Citing the current pollution of rivers such as the Offin, Tano, Ankobra and other rivers to indicate the enormity of water pollution in the country, he warned of a possible "third world war" on the water if no urgent measures were taken to remedy the situation.

"The fresh water is over and the competition for fresh water is going to intensify in the near future with the ramping up of industries".

According to him, water was the most strategic and critical resource in the world and remained an essential commodity for the economic development and well-being of all societies.

He therefore called on the government to invest heavily in improving the management of water and water infrastructure in the country.

Professor Owusu-Sekyere, whose research focused on the use of water and crop production, noted that water scarcity threatened and continues to threaten food security and that, as a result, , the promotion of modern agricultural irrigation technologies was an important measure to combat water scarcity.

He urged the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) to study and adopt efficient and environmentally friendly water-saving irrigation techniques to ensure enough water to produce food. for future generations.

In addition, Professor Owusu-Sekyere called for a national campaign to set up a rainwater collection system, in which each household would be required to build a rainwater harvesting system to mitigate it. rainwater losses in the country.

He added that, although increased agriculture was needed to provide food for the growing world population, this should be done in a way that would not aggravate the already scarce freshwater situation. Decreasing the allocation of fresh water, if not controlled, will greatly affect food production.

Professor Owusu-Sekyere has conducted extensive research on deficit irrigation, irrigation to save water, crop water requirements in a changing climate and the control of water. water for agricultural production.