The Water Research Institute, under the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-WRI) has organized a validation workshop on integrated monitoring of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.

Stakeholders within the sector gathered at the Coconut Grove hotel on Thursday, July 12, 2018 to validate a research on how Ghana can fulfil SDG 6.

Sustainable Development Goal 6 proposes that access to safe water and sanitation and sound management of freshwater ecosystems are essential to human health and to environmental sustainability and economic prosperity.

The Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research set up a technical committee comprising Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Ghana Community Water and Sanitation Agency (GCWSA), Water Research Institute (WRI), National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Water Resources Commission and other water-related organizations to collate reliable data purposely for the fulfilment of SDG 6 as well as produce a report on Ghana’s progress so far in that regard.

Addressing the media, research scientist at WRI, Dr. Anthony Yaw Karikari disclosed that the research was done in collaboration with international coordinating body, UN-Water.

“This meeting is to rally around all water-related organizations and those who matter in the water industry to validate a job we have done. What we have done is that we have UN-Water supporting us to work on SDG 6.41 and 6.42 that talks about water use and efficiency and water stress, and to be able to calculate how much water we have and how we are using the water and whether it is going to be sustainable for all of us,” he explained.

The United Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Hygiene also assisted the Water Research Institute’s research with a Sustainable Development Goal Policy Support System (SDG PSS).

Another research scientist at CSIR-WRI, Dr. Emmanuel Obuobie bemoaned the poor drainage system in the agricultural sector. He argued that the situation impedes the growth of crops, thereby causing unwarranted losses to production in the agric sector.

“Every agricultural system is supposed to have drainage systems. Because not all the water that is supplied to the crop is used by it. You have some of the water moving out of the agricultural field and they have to be drained off the field to be able to provide the needed condition for the crop’s phenological growth. When you don’t have those drainage systems, it means that you keep the water on the field and it can impede the growth of the crop,” he asserted.

Government has disclosed its intentions to attain a number of Sustainable Development Goals by 2025 and 2030.