Water is life. It is essential for humans, animals and plants. Without it all would die. But water is a resource that is becoming ever more scarce. Some say that in the future, wars will be waged over water rather than oil.
In Ghana, as it becomes more developed, the demand for water is increasing. At the same time, many of the rivers that form the source of the piped water supply are becoming polluted, particularly by illegal mining activities. The result is that the price of water is steadily rising.
At the Baobab Centre, we need water to clean, to bath and to water the plants on the farm. The cost of piped water for such a large community amounts, on average, to up to 2.000,- GHC per month. We already have a dam which provides water for the farm at certain times of the year but we want to do more.
Ghana is blessed with a ‘big’ rainy season from May to July and the ‘small’ rains come in September and October. In order to harvest and store this precious resource, we want to extend our dam and also create a new water reservoir. The larger dam would double the amount of rainwater we can catch and make available to the farm. While the water reservoir will be capable of storing up to 200.000 litres of rainwater harvested from the roofs of our teaching kitchen. In addition, we want to supplement our water supply in the dry season by digging a new borehole in order to tap the underground water reserves.
At Baobab, we want to protect the environment. We educate our children to respect and protect the environment and our natural resources. Harvesting rainwater and collecting water from a well are all activities that used to take place in Ghana in the past. Modernization has encouraged people to rely on piped water alone, while the free clean rainwater and the underground water goes untapped. As the cost of piped water increases, people will have to relearn the skills of harvesting water from the environment in order to decrease the demand on an already over-stretched piped water system. The Baobab Centre can educate not only our students on how to develop sustainable water sources at a time of climate change but also act as a model for the wider community. By being more self-sufficient now, we will be saving costs in the future and guaranteeing a fresh water supply. Water is life.
This project costs 22.000,- Euro and is sponsored by Managers of some Enterprises/ Factories at Würzburg/ Germany. Many thanks to all sponsors and a big thank you to Walther Mann who made this possible.
