NGO pushes for ban on packaged water

… Encourages Ghanaians to go back to the taps
Posted: The Chronicle |Thursday, February 18, 2010

By Charles Takyi - Boadu

The Ghana Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations in the Water and Sanitation Sector (CONIWAS) is advocating for a total ban on thin plastics used in the production of packaged water in the country.
It believes the production and consumption pattern of sachet water is not sustainable, since environmental pollution of thin plastics, and the associated economic costs to the nation, far outweighed the employment benefits it creates for those who engage in it.

It has therefore welcomed the government decision to place a 20% ad valerom tax on the product, since according to the group, abandoning tap water altogether, as a result of what it describes as marketing gimmicks and perceived poor quality, and resorting to packaged water as a main source of drinking water, constitutes development in the wrong direction.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra yesterday, Vice Chair of CONIWAS and Director of Public Policy Women and Development GrassRoots Africa, Hawa Nibi Amenga-Etego, stressed the urgent need for Ghanaians to shun packaged water, and to revert to the use of taps, since “the infiltration of bottled and sachet water into our market has become the biggest threat to the realisation of the right to water in Ghana.”

She argued that the decision had successfully diverted people’s attention away from more affordable sources, to more expensive and unsustainable bottled and sachet water, which costs 500 times (in the case of sachet water) and 1,600 times (in the case of bottled water) higher than other improved sources of water such as the taps, with little or no more improvement in the quality.

Meanwhile, General Comment 15 (GC15) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) sets out the tripartite responsibility of states to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to water.

It further states that a state (nation) protects the right by preventing third parties (including private companies) from interfering with the enjoyment of the right, including the imposition of appropriate regulatory measures (including taxes) on such parties.

However, the majority of Ghanaians still heavily rely on tap water, and other improved sources beside the bottled and sachet ones, as their sole source of drinking water.

Information gathered from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicates that only 8.2% of Ghanaians drink bottled and sachet water as a source of drinking water alongside other improved sources, with the urban being 15.2%, whilst the rural constitutes only 1.8%.

CONIWAS noted that the poor would constitute a small fraction of this percentage, hence the production of sachet and bottled water constitutes commodification of water and interference in the right of the people to water, which is a fundamental human right, insisting that “a service as essential as water, cannot be subject to market focus.”

Consequently, the group, in collaboration with the Foundation for Grassroots Initiatives in Africa (GrassRoots Africa), has urged Ghanaians to bring pressure to bear on the government, and demand sufficient water of acceptable quality through taps, as the only way to guarantee the enjoyment of the right to water by all.

It is also advocating for the government to focus the 20% ad valerom tax on water, rather than the packaging material, and asked for proceeds from the tax to be channeled to the relevant authorities to improve water supply.

CONIWAS is also pushing for a separate tax for plastics to be considered more broadly, beyond packaging material or bottled and sachet water, whilst calling on the government to appropriate 25% of the talk tax, and 5% of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) levy, to finance Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services (WASH), considering that these services are pivotal to the development of all other sectors of the economy.

Just like the rural water levy of 2% on all utility bills, which goes to support investment in the rural subsector, the group is also asking the government to consider an additional charge of 1%, dedicated to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), solely for infrastructure investment, instead of depending entirely on donors for this.