The International Water Association–Young Water Professionals, (IWA-YWP) Ghana Chapter has marked this year’s World Water Day with an appeal to policy makers to come up with the needed and appropriate responses and frameworks that would account for rapid expansion for both water and energy priorities of communities and the country as a whole.

The Acting President of the Association Perpetua Asomani, made the appeal when the Association organised an outreach program for the La Yahoshua Basic and Junior High School in Accra to commemorate the UN International World Water Day which is held annually on March 22 as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

The theme for this year’s celebration was “Water and Energy”.

The Association’s maiden outreach program was therefore to educate the school children on the critical relationships between water and energy and sensitize them on the effects of pollution on water quality by using the Water monitoring Test kit, and how to properly interpret the results. on pollution and contamination of Water in general by using the World Water Monitoring Test Kit.

The Acting President of IWA-YWP Ghana, Mrs. Perpetua Asomani further stated that Water accounts for approximately two-thirds of the human body and is responsible for the proper functioning of many health systems needed for survival, including the brain. Adding that 70% of the earth is water, but less than 1% is drinkable.

Mrs. Asomani explained that the focus of the Association for marking the day was to raise awareness of the inter-linkages between water and energy by contributing to a policy dialogue that focuses on the broad range of issues related to the nexus of water and energy.

Some acting executive members of the Association also took turns to educate some of the students on the linkages between water and energy as well as the vision, mission, objectives and the planned collaborative activities of IWA-YWP Ghana chapter and to whip up the interest of the students to choose carriers in the Water and Sanitation Sector. There were presentations that cut across water cycle through to the use of water in hydro energy generation and use of water in thermal energy generation plants as a coolant.

The Association later through its Acting Vice President, David Nunoo presented a thirty (30) number of World Water Day Branded T-shirt, some drinks as refreshment, some exercise books and pens to the students who participated in observing the day.

It would be recalled that an International day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.

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