World Water Day in Ghana

This post is part of an GhanaBlogging event for World Water Day.

Drip, drip, drip.

Water in Ghana. There is so much to say. About the abundance of water that makes this country so green, the lack of potable water which makes Ghana’s roads fill up with slow water tankers and trucks carrying “water sachets” – plasticbags with purified(?) water for drinking. There are waterfalls and beaches, pools and bucket showers. There is water in Ghana! But all of this you know already.

So let me briefly touch upon a water related issue that not everybody knows of: sea erosion.

As a possible effect of climate change, water is every day, month and year taking a piece of Ghanaian land. I saw it first with my own eyes last year. It was weekend, and I felt like swimming in the salty sea. Together with my husband, I went to  Anomabo Beach Resort,  a favorite beach close to Cape Coast. This beach with its long stretch of sandy beach had in the past been a good place to swim.

Now, half of the beach was gone. The heavy logs that had been dug deep into the sand to guard the restaurant building from erosion and provide  a shady place to rest a meter or two above sea level were floating around, like matches in the zink!

I was shocked.

Since then, I have heard so many other stories of erosion. Plots and vacation homes disappearing to the sea at Prampram, the city of Keta slowly disappearing  and economic development being hindered in Ada.

Stories, but no information. Dramatic changes, but no reaction.

Even with the news of the seat of government – the Osu castle being at risk to sea erosion, Ghana is strangely quiet.

That is of course except for the waves coming in…

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5 Comments

  1. You are so right! Climate change is going to worsen many of the developing world’s problems, the least not being water issues. Analysts also project that there’s going to be record flooding in the coming years. Brace yourselves, people.