A member of the Board of the Water Resources Commission has stressed the need for Ghanaians to revive the culture of harvesting rain water to ease the over-dependence on pipe-borne water. The Board member, Nana Kwabena Dwomoh-Sarpong suggested that people could take advantage of the rainy season to harvest and store as much rain water as possible particularly for domestic use, instead of allowing it flow unutilised and, in the most cases, cause havoc to life and property. "The culture of harvesting rain water has been with us for centuries particularly in rural areas, why are we abandoning it now?" he asked. Speaking to newsmen, Nana Dwomoh-Sarpong noted that buildings put up so many years ago including bungalows built by the colonial masters were designed to have rain water harvesting facilities but "the situation is unfortunately not the same today." He, therefore, suggested that the country’s building code be strengthened to make the provision of rainwater harvesting facilities by estate developers mandatory. Nana Dwomoh-Sarpong said: "Ghanaians like complaining too much about everything instead of taking positive decisions or actions," adding people build in areas very far from sources of water supply "and yet expect the government to provide them with potable water in a twinkle of an eye." Nana Dwomoh-Sarpong who is the President of Friends of Rivers and Water Bodies (FRWB), an environmental non-governmental organisation and Country Director of Rain-water Harvesting International, a global NGO, said Burkina Faso, for instance was experiencing increased agricultural production and little or no water shortage problems because of the effective and efficient management of its water resources. "Unlike Burkina Faso, we are fortunate to have a better rainfall pattern in addition to good network of water resources but we continue to abuse the environment, destroy our water bodies and generally mess up our water resources as if they are inexhaustible," he said. Judging from the reckless manner in which the country’s resources are being handled, he said, it is possible for the nation to experience water shortage in the not too distant future. "We are building on water ways and encroaching on even sources of rivers. Our drains which are supposed to serve as linkages to water bodies have become waste disposal points and mosquito breeding grounds," he said and added: "The evidence of wanton destruction and possible shortage of water in the country is everywhere." Source: The Ghanaian Times