Professor Mike Osei-Atweneboana, the Director, Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research-Water Research Institute (CSIR-WRI), has called on the Government to invest in sustainable water management systems, including improved sanitation facilities, to ensure access to clean water for all. Some of the countries, as of 2020, were doing roughly 70 per cent and 99 per cent with regard to access to water, as far as the Sustainable Development Goal-Six was concerned. Ghana was doing between 26 to about 50 per cent of access to water, which was a major concern that needed to be addressed, he said. Prof Osei-Atweneboana said the SDG-Six underscored the need for universal access to safe and affordable drinking water for all. 'Now, when it happens like that, it means that when are we going to reach the SDG-Six by 2030? and looking at the pace we are moving, unless we double the pace like 20 to 40 times, we will not be able to meet our target,' he added. Prof Osei-Atweneboana said this during an open day semina r series-Four, held in Accra by the CSIR-WRI, on the theme: 'Ghana's Water Security: Rethinking the Value of Water.' He said there were various policies and regulations in the country to maintain clean and safe water, however, enforcement had been the biggest challenge, hence the need to strengthen implementation to protect water quality and promote responsible water usage. 'Increasing awareness about the importance of clean water, hydration and strategies to conserve and protect water resources is also more relevant in this regard,' he added. Prof. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, a retired professor of Botany, University of Ghana, said ecosystems-based approach for water-related services were essential to provide the basis for an understanding of the tools needed for successful implementation and security. Structural changes to forests could influence several watershed processes like erosion rates, water chemistry, peak flow levels, total flow, base flow, or groundwater recharge in different ways. Those changes re sulted in increased costs of water purification, increased fertilisation of floodplain lands, decreased reservoir capacity due to siltation, flood damage and changes in agriculture. Prof Oteng-Yeboah said the understanding of the biophysical processes that determined the way forest cover, forest structure, and soil vegetation dynamics affected the amount and quality of freshwater to the extent that it impacted human wellbeing was very important. 'At each level, there is the involvement of all stakeholders in the water ecosystem security,' he added. He said subsequent decisions to promote payment for water ecosystem services would receive approval from the stakeholders because they had all been involved in ensuring a secured water ecosystem. Professor Oteng-Yeboah urged the Water Resource Commission, Ghana Water Company, Irrigation Authority, Volta River Authority, Bui Dam Authority, Fisheries Commission, and the Electricity Company of Ghana to collaborate to provide safe water and security. 'Bring policy makers on water uses such as the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, ministries of Foods and Agriculture, Water and Sanitation, Minerals Commission, the Lands Commission, Environmental Protection Agency and others to also help in water management,' he added. Source: Ghana News Agency