The discharge of untreated municipal waste water
into rivers, lagoons, estuaries or the sea has been identified as one of the most serious threats to the health of coastal populations and sustainable coastal development.
Their impact has also compromised the capacity of the marine and coastal ecosystem to support sustainable socio-economic and environmental services resulting in deepening poverty, disease and food insecurity in coastal communities.
Mr. Jonathan Allotey, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, said this at the opening of four-day trainers of trainees' workshop on municipal waste training and capacity building.
The workshop under the theme: "Improving Wastewater Management in Coastal Cities" would find solutions to the daunting challenges facing Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
The workshop, which has brought together stakeholders and participants from Ghana and other West African states, is being organized by the UNEP/Global Programme of Action (GPA) and EPA with support from the Interim Guinea Current Commission.
It would contribute to building decentralized capacity towards achieving the Johannesburg Plan of implementation targets on water and sanitation.
Mr Allotey stressed the need to strengthen municipal efforts in ACP countries to identify, design and finance projects to collect and treat domestic and industrial waste water through training.
He noted that governments of coastal nations had committed themselves to implementing the GPA as a way of ensuring improved governance of the marine and coastal environments.
Mr Allotey said as part of efforts to elaborate its National Action Programme (NAP) in accordance with the GPA, Ghana had organized a series of stakeholder meetings to review previous strategies, plans and ongoing initiatives to protect the marine and coastal areas from land-based sources of pollution.
The interventions include targeted small-scale institutional capacity building, education and awareness programmes, regulatory and socio-economic incentives.
Mr. Allotey said metro, municipal and district assemblies with jurisdiction over the coastal areas of Ghana had been identified in the NAP as institutions that would take the step in implementation.
"It is also envisaged that this would be done with strong support from key stakeholders for the achievement of targeted benefits".
Mr. Daniel Amlalo, Deputy Executive Director of EPA, said waste water was often times discharged with inadequate treatment and called for appropriate plans and programmes that would treat waste water either from industry or settlements.
He said the workshop was the first in the series to be organized in the Western and Ashanti regions to ensure revenue generation from waste water as well as redeeming the environment from degradation through the use of modern techniques.
Dr. Erik Steveninck, Senior Lecturer, Aquatic and Marine Ecology, Institute for Water Education, in the Netherlands, said the course had been developed for over 600 participants across 45 countries including Egypt, Tanzania, South Africa and Philippines.
He said the workshop sought to tackle waste water management in a more feasible manner and identify structured approach in drafting proposals for support and urged participants to come out with interdisciplinary solutions.