By George Ferguson Laing
Many middle class Ghanaians on the 24th of January, 2023 woke up to an alarming statement, released by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) announcing water rationing in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central, Western, and Northern Regions of Ghana.
The reasons the GWCL gave for the rationing was the indiscriminate cutting of trees that give our water bodies cover, pollution of water bodies, and high evaporation as a result of rising temperatures. Even more distressing, the company was unable to determine the duration of the water rationing. “For now, because of the climatic changes as we know, it is a bit difficult to determine whether it will end in a month or two” the statement read.
Among others, the GWCL entreated its customers to take conservation measures, including ceasing the use of treated water to wash cars and water lawns. Customers are also urged to shut all taps when not in use, repair leakages at home, like overflowing reservoirs and dripping taps and to report all burst pipes and leakages to GWCL district offices.
The admonition to customers to control the urge to sustain their lush lawns, is somewhat ironic, considering the fact that millions of Ghanaians do not have access to potable water.
Society’s elite have grown accustomed to buying their way out of problems that affect the average Ghanaian. Horror stories of kids learning under trees or pregnant women dying needlessly for lack of timely medical care, barely raise eyebrows in affluent circles. Those that can afford it, simply check out of public services that don’t work, so the response to unsatisfactory government education or healthcare is simply to resort to more responsive private solutions.
The effects of climate change are however less easy to circumvent as the water rationing announcement demonstrates. The World Bank Group’s Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR)for Ghana (2022) estimates that at least one million more people could fall into poverty due to climate shocks, if urgent climate actions are not taken. The same report notes that flooding due to eroded coastlines and sea-level rise directly impacts about 45,000 people every year.