The Water Resources Commission has organized a workshop on the role of District Assemblies in water resources management at Kade in the Kwaebibirem District. Members of the Kwaebibirem District Assembly, heads of department, members of the security agencies, the District Water and Sanitation team and traditional rulers attended. The District Chief Executive (DCE), Yaw Yiadom-Boakye, in an address noted that while in the past water was taken for granted because it was available in many places, it had become a scarce vital amenity essential for survival with population increase and the drying up of streams and rivers in recent times. With deforestation and pollution of water sources, potable water is now scarce; he said and called for the proper management of water sources. To ensure clean water for the people, the DCE said the Assembly had sunk boreholes and provided small town water systems in the communities clean with the support of Non-governmental organisation (NGOs) foreign donors and asked the beneficiaries to take good care of the facilities. A water quality specialist of the Commission, Ms Adwoa Paintsil, observed that with the growing demand for water, choices had to be made in its allocation for competing uses to ensure the availability of adequate good quality water for socio-economic development now and the future. Ms Paintsil called for the rational management and development of the country's water resources to promote economic growth and to protect the life sustaining ecosystems. She explained that, the Commission had been mandated to manage and regulate the utilization of water in a sustainable manner because of the growing demand and increased environmental degradation and pollution of water bodies. It was also to safeguard the health of users, ensure adequate water to sustain aquatic ecosystems, minimise treatment cost and provide legal security to water users, she stated. The Commission is also to provide information for water resource planning and management to promote economic growth and to avoid conflicts, the water quality specialist concluded. Ronald Abrahams of the Koforidua Office of the Densu Basin Project of the Commission, called on district assemblies to enact bye-laws and enforce existing ones on the protection of water sources, plant trees long river banks to prevent erosion and to safeguard water ways. Source: GNA