Agona Nkwanta (W/R), March 22, GNA - Mr Yaw Osei Owusu Sekyere, Executive Director of Conservation Foundation, on Tuesday appealed to the government to make water supply to basic schools a priority to enhance teaching and learning.

He said some school pupils in both rural and urban centres walked over six kilometres in search of water daily and that negatively affected their academic work, adding that even some pupils dropped out of school because o= f insufficient supply of water especially the girl-child.

Mr Owusu-Sekyere made the appeal at Agona Nkwanta after over 200 schoo= l pupils in the Ahanta West District undertook a six-kilometre water walk fro= m Abura to Aboade, to create awareness on the need to preserve water bodies and supply potable water to schools and communities in the area. The walk, organised by the Conservation Foundation, a non-governmental organisation committed to the conservation of natural resources, forms part of activities marking this year's World Water Day, which is being celebra= ted worldwide on the theme; 93 Water for Cities: Responding to Urban Challenge= s".

Mr Owusu-Sekyere said the walk was intended to raise broader awareness of the importance of ensuring access to water and sustaining the management of fresh water to individuals, businesses and the country as a whole. He noted that lack of safe drinking water and sanitation resulted in diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and outbreak of other communicable infections.

Mr Owusu-Sekyere tasked all stakeholders in the water management chain to put hands on deck to protect the water bodies. He urged the media to join the crusade to raise the awareness on the need for government to increase supply of potable water to communities and schools in particular.

He said data collated by focal persons in sustainable water management revealed that over 140 million people worldwide did not have access to improved drinking water.

Addressing the pupils, Mr Alex Asamoah Nyarko, Ahanta West District Coordinating Director, admonished them to report small scale miners popularly called galamsey operators who mined in water bodies to the security agencies.

He said the Assembly had struck a deal with a company in Denmark to construct stand pipes and other water outlets in the district to ensure sufficient supply of drinking water.