Guidelines - Wastewater and Faecal Sludge Management for Ghana.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) through its Institute of Industrial Research (IIR) held a round-table meeting on waste management in Accra last week.

The meeting which was on wastewater and faecal sludge management brought together stakeholders in the waste management value chain to make inputs to a draft guideline document which is being put together by the two institutions. Institutions that were represented at the meeting include the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Skyfox Ghana Limited, KNUST as well as other private individuals and researchers.

 Dr. Francis Boateng Agyenim, Director, Institute of Industrial Research in an opening remark noted that Ghana has a lot of policies and plans in place especially in the area of sanitation, but few of these have been implementable for effective wastewater and faecal sludge management. He explained that the threat for most cities across the Global South is the issues of waste management which according to him needed the utmost attention of all including corporates. He also reiterated CSIR-IIR’s commitment to addressing issues relating to waste management and cited the Zero Waste Disposal (ZeWAD) project which is currently being piloted at the Institute to harness the usefulness of waste as a resource.

 Dr. Joseph Ampofo, a former Director of the Water Research Institute, who chaired the meeting, introduced participants to the draft guideline document which was presented to him by Dr. Suresh Kumar Rohilla, a Senior Director at CSE, India. “This is a fantastic document and it calls for platforms such as this to engage stakeholders who can make inputs towards having a comprehensive document for implementation” he remarked. He also entreated participants to utilize the opportunity and contribute to the draft document drawing experiences from various projects and assignments they have undertaken as well as knowledge from international best practices.

 Dr. Suresh Kumar Rohilla explained that the expectation of the researchers is to develop a guideline document that is practical and implementable at metropolitan, municipal and district levels where its impact would be visible. “We intend to develop guidelines not policies that are just political talks and may not be implementable. It is when these guidelines are implemented and seen to be working, then it will attract the attention of policy makers to adopt and replicate” he commented.

 Dr. Rohilla said CSE is committed to working with partners such as CSIR-IIR to find solutions to the challenges that confront most Global South countries especially in the area of waste management citing some achievements made by CSE India and the need for the two institutions to pursue projects of mutual benefits. He congratulated the writers of the draft document and also thanked participants for responding positively to the invitation, especially panellists who accepted the responsibility to lead the discussions.

 Prof. Nigel Paul, a professor from Lancaster University, UK who was present at the meeting congratulated CSE and CISR-IIR for the great work done and encouraged partners to pursue practices that will go to improve the environment and make life better. He drew experiences from his work as a researcher and contributed meaningfully to the subject as a panellist.

 The roundtable meeting brought together representatives from over 15 institutions in Accra and beyond.

Click here for the Guidelines - Wastewater and Faecal Sludge Management for Ghana