Saturday, March 30, 2013
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Water water everywhere – but sometimes nought to drink?
I don’t think it has rained more than three
times since October when we got back to Accra from France. The UK may be
suffering the coldest Easter on record with temperatures of minus ten degrees (I
remember swimming in the North Sea at Easter up near Newcastle, at much this
time of year and, though cold, my genitalia didn’t completely retract) but
Ghana is drought-like. Temperatures stay up around 33 degrees and the humidity
is around 80. Even Ghanaians are suffering heat rashes. The consequence is
water shortages. And water wars.
The latter are fought between the well-to-do
in the much sought after areas of the city. Here, half acre plots boast large
houses and tropical gardens. Every house has a decent-sized water tank to see
it through the days when the mains water does not run. This was fine until someone
realized that if you add a pump to the tank you could exert extra suck on the
mains and fill up even when water pressure is low. Soon, the inevitable, either
you get a pump or you have no water.
Where we live (a mix of large houses and
shanty squats) there is less water acquisitiveness but it does not mean we are
out of the loop of steadily escalating self-interest. We had a full tank the other
day, enough for two weeks, normally. Two days later it was nearly all gone.
Why? We have theories. Leaks? Not likely as there are no damp signs on the
soil. Neighbours burrowing under the wall and putting a T joint on our house
supply? Again, no signs. The gardener selling water to locals (a common reason
for sackings at the big houses). No – he’s a good feller and I am in the house,
writing, when he is around. The neighbours joining the water pump army and
sucking water from our tank? Possible. Anyway, our plumber is coming to fortify
these precious resources. Also we will soon have the bore hole fully operational
and be able to draw water when and how we like. In this latter respect we are,
to use the North Korean metaphor, going nuclear.
All this does not disguise the potentially frightening
issue of water becoming more precious than any other resource, even in Ghana. The
country has the financial wherewithal and the climate to provide water for everyone
all of the time. It is now oil-rich. But a governmental ideal that everyone,
from the poor upwards, should be cared for, is sadly lacking. Thus the rich secure
water by whatever means and what is left is spread thinly among the rest of the
population.
Labels: #Ghana. Water. Africa.
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