Kumasi, March 22, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is committed to improving water supply to end the perennial water crises by significantly expanding and upgrading water infrastructure in the country. This would be achieved through a comprehensive national development program on water, maintenance of water bodies, rain water harvest and sustainability of systems among other things.

Mr Alban S. K. Bagbin, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, announced this at the National Water Day cerebration in Kumasi on Tuesday. The occasion was held under the theme; 93Water for Cities - Respondin= g to the Urban Challenge".

Mr Bagbin, who presented the statement on water sector in the Ashanti Region and the way forward, said the region was endowed with both surface water and ground water resources which was adequate to meet present demand up to the year 2025. He stated that the available surface water alone which was over 151 million cubic meters per annum could meet the region's required demand. However a steady decline in rainfall and the pollution of water bodies with faecal matter coupled with the upsurge of illegal mining, sand winning and quarrying around water courses has become a threat to meeting water demands in the region.

Mr Bagbin noted that the prevailing situation calls for sustained pragmatic measures and actions to improve quantity and quality of water resources in the region in particular and the country in general. He described the Water Quality Index (WQI) of Lake-Barekese and River Offin, the main source of drinking water for the Kumasi Metropolis, as poor and deteriorating.

Dr Kwaku Agyeman Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister, said water is o= f great necessity of life and therefore called on the various stakeholders to work in collaboration with the government to ensure the provision of potabl= e water to the people at all times. During an open forum, people called on the District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies to enforce by-laws to sanction those who built houses on waterways and farmed along rivers as that practice affected water supply. Nana Darko Montwi, Omanhene of Mabang Traditional Area, who presided, said the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals of 2015 demanded a lot of effective measures to improve water supply in the country.