The Gambia’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) has expressed its commitment towards the protection of groundwater, as the authority joined national and international stakeholders in observance of this year’s World Water Day (WWD). Held on 22 March every year, since 1993, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly set aside 22 March to observe the day globally, which, as the Utilities Authority explained in a press release, aims to reflect and raise awareness on the importance of water and its role in the ecosystem.
It could be noted that the global theme for this year’s WWD, ‘Groundwater, making the invisible visible’, is to bring attention to the invisible yet, impactful resource, groundwater.
In The Gambia, PURA joins the international water community in observing the significance of the day, as it said in the press release that: “PURA remains committed to working with both national and international stakeholders, to promote the protection of Groundwater from pollution, and guarantee an access and affordable clean water supply for all and sundry.”
In light of this year’s theme, the Utilities Regulatory Authority stressed that it is preoccupied with the growing water pollution in the Gambia, poorly constructed soakaways, ineffective waste management regimes, uncontrolled settlements near boreholes and unregulated drilling of water boreholes.
“We are poised to ensure improvement in these critical areas of public health concerns,” the public is informed through the statement.
PURA also indicated that the groundwater is indeed a common heritage of mankind, hence the need for its protection, to jealously safeguard and sustain the endowed resources for posterity, requires collective responsibility for equitable utilization and management.
