In a bid to ensure that the water resources of the country are protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled in a sustainable manner in order to ensure their equitable, beneficial, efficient and sustainable use and management, the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources has completed a draft bill on water resources management.
The rationale for the bill is for government to realise the need to establish a body charged with the control, management and regulation of water resources in order to move away from the current legal frame work where various agencies and institutions regulate and manage different aspects of the resources.
This information was disclosed yesterday Monday, 6th March 2012 at a workshop organised by the Ministry for stakeholders’ validation of the National Draft Water Resources Management Bill at the Miatta Conference hall, Brookfields.
According to Mr. Reginald Thomas, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, the workshop was organised as the final validation of the drafted water resources management bill that they have completed as they have been working on it for the past months. He expressed disappointment for the poor turnout of participants as they were expecting more people for the exercise.
He maintained that they have been working with the 1963 Water Act that is still in operation, adding that the new bill will focus on how water should be managed in the interest of all in the country as he hoped that the participants will contribute meaningfully on the proposed bill before them.
Alhaji Gibril Bakarr Kanu, acting Mayor of the Freetown Municipality disclosed that this is the first time in the history of the country that laws are being formulated that would ensure the management of water resources and noted the significance of the workshop as “completing the process leading to the enactment into law of a national water resources management.” He thanked the Ministry for what he called “this wonderful work.”
“The purpose of this Act as I understand it is to ensure that the water resources of the country are protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled in a sustainable manner to ensure the equitable beneficial, efficient and sustainable use and management of the country’s water resources,” he noted.
He maintained that the government has thought it wise to establish a body charged with the control and management of water resources as the bill upon enactment, will ensure the availability of quality and safe drinking water for the people.
In his presentation, Mr. Francis D. D. Ganda, the PRO at the Ministry disclosed that the National Water Implementation Policy was launched last January, by Vice President Sumana to control the management of the country’s water resources.
Speaking on the legal side, Lawyer Maxwell Opoku Agyemang stated that the document is not an Act yet but a Bill, adding that the bill is not to provide water supply but to ensure sustainable management of national water resources.
He disclosed that at the community level, water wells should be dug at least four hundred yards off a burial site to avoid water borne disease as most people dig their bore holes closer to a burial site which is not healthy for their wellbeing.
According to him, the bill makes provision for the creation of a single agency that will coordinate and regulate the allocation, monitoring and planning of water resources in the country.
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