The perennial water shortage in Sanguli in the Northern region of Ghana and its environs is affecting economic/academic activities. Sanguli is one of the rural communities in the Saboba District in the Northern region of Ghana with a high poverty rate.
The community and the surrounding area have been suffering from a chronic water crisis after the only source dries up between the months of November to June every season. This is an ongoing problem for the population. The people of Sanguli share the dam's source of water with seven other surrounding villages and animals.
This water crisis hits the area hard every year during the dry season.
Dam is the only source of water for Sanguli
The dam built in the 1970's serves seven adjoining villages, it stands as the only source in Sanguli but has not been desilt to deepen and widen the banks to make it more productive.
It would not have been difficult to provide the Sanguli area with potable water if the dam was desilted and banks were reshaped to increase its capacity to hold a high volume of water during the rainy season for preservation. In an interview recently the Opinion leader and secretary to the Paramount Chief of Sanguli Mr. James Kojo Baafi advised the women who collect water from the dam to use chlorine to purify water despite the health implications.
It is obvious that women and children of school age suffer more, they spend their nights searching for water. They trek over nine kilometers to locate a source of water, children go to school late and are compelled to carry cans to fetch water after school hours. The leadership of Sanguli also stated the several attempts to address the issue with the appropriate authority, has not yielded a positive result but they resort to passing on names on to local government offices in the hope of solving this problem.
Water shortage in Ghana is alarming
It's doubtful if as a member of the United Nations will achieve goal 6 of Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 as targeted.
The United Nations Development goal 6 implemented in 2015 in about 190 member States guide countries to ensure universal access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030.
The United Nations has cautioned about the effects of water scarcity suffered by more than 40 per cent of people around the world, an alarming figure that is projected to increase with the rise of global temperatures as a result of climate change.
The people are appealing to government, non-governmental organisations and humanitarian bodies to urgently intervene to provide Sanguli and the environ with potable water.
