Polluted rivers, poor sanitation undermine Ghana’s progress towards SDG 6 –Experts

Gifty Dadzie

Every morning, Ghana wakes to glaring signs of the environmental crisis it has grown accustomed to overlooking. A plastic bottle abandoned beside a market. A choked drain awaiting the next downpour. A neglected, overflowing public toilet. A river whose colour changes after heavy rain.

Individually, these may seem to be ordinary features of everyday life. But together, they tell a more troubling story about sanitation, environmental degradation and the health of a nation.

That was the concern and heart of the conversation at the Clean Conference 2026, held on Friday, August 21, 2026, at the CEDI Conference Hall of the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra.

Organised by Ignite Media and KAEM Creationz under the auspices of the Office of the Chief of Staff, the conference was themed: “Assessing Progress Towards Agenda 2030 and the UN SDGs on Sanitation and a Clean Environment.”

The gathering brought together stakeholders such as the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah; Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II; the spokesperson for the National Chief Imam, Armiyawo Shaibu; and Germany’s Ambassador to Ghana, Frederik Landshöft, among other dignitaries.

Panel discussions brought together the Environmental Protection Agency, WaterAid Ghana, World Vision, Zoomlion, Busstop Boys and community organisations to discuss Ghana’s sanitation and environmental challenges, including water pollution, waste management, access to safe drinking water, river and wetland protection, illegal mining and the country’s progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.

Speaking at the conference, the Deputy National Director of A Rocha Ghana, Daryl Bossu, warned that the problem has spread across major river basins and poses risks to public health.

“The sad thing is that almost all our major basins are affected,” he said.

According to Mr Bossu, rivers including the Birim, Offin, Pra, Tano and other river systems are recording worrying levels of pollution and declining water quality.

He cited data showing that some rivers have moved from already concerning levels of turbidity to figures that indicate a far more serious deterioration in water quality.

The consequences, he warned, extend beyond the rivers themselves.

The Ghana Medical Association and other groups have raised concerns about the increasing risks associated with pollution for children, women and the wider population.

Mr Bossu cautioned that the presence of heavy metals creates another layer of concern for water security, particularly because Ghana’s existing water treatment capacity may not be sufficient to deal with some of the contaminants entering water bodies.

“If this is the state of the rivers in Ghana, then certainly it doesn’t matter how many distribution networks for water we have. For as long as the source is polluted, it’s not of good quality, then certainly we are not doing well at all with SDGs,” he said.

The warning is particularly significant in a country where access to safe water and sanitation remains central to public health and development.

In his submission, Chief of Staff Julius Debrah said sanitation should not be viewed merely as an issue of appearance, but as a measure of how seriously the country takes citizenship, leadership and the future of its children.

“A clean country is therefore not a cosmetic ambition. It is a test of citizenship. It is a test of leadership, and it is a test we must pass together,” Mr Debrah said.

Mr Debrah noted that inadequate sanitation comes with an economic cost as well as a human one. Citing World Bank estimates, he said countries lose between two and four per cent of their gross domestic product each year because of inadequate sanitation.

“When the sanitation system works, societies prosper,” he said. “People are healthier, hospitals carry a lighter burden, children miss fewer days of school, and workers are more productive.”

Mr Debrah acknowledged that despite progress, many people still lack safe household sanitation, while open defecation continues in communities across the country.

“These are not merely statistics. They describe the daily indignity of fellow citizens,” he said.

The environmental crisis also carries a moral dimension.

Speaking from an Islamic perspective, the spokesperson for the National Chief Imam, Armiyawo Shaibu, urged citizens to develop a stronger culture of cleanliness and environmental consciousness, arguing that protecting the environment should be understood as both a spiritual and social responsibility.

He said Muslims who are conscious of their faith should not litter, practise open defecation or engage in activities that contaminate water sources.

“When you go upstream, and you ease yourself so that you contaminate water for those who live downstream, you endanger their lives,” he said.

“It’s a spiritual responsibility and a social responsibility,” he said, calling on people of different faiths to work together to improve sanitation and protect the environment.

The Environmental Protection Agency representative at the conference also pointed to the need to move from simply responding to pollution to preventing it in the first place.

The representative highlighted existing legislation, including the Public Health Act and the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, as tools that can help address pollution and improve how communities and activities are planned.

The EPA also stressed the importance of the waste hierarchy, arguing that elimination and reduction should come before recycling, treatment and disposal.

The agency has, for example, banned the use of styrofoam, with the measure set to take effect in 2027.

“Enforcement principles and processes are very, very important,” the EPA representative said.

That enforcement, the representative explained, requires inspections, complaints, self-monitoring, sampling and verification against environmental standards, followed where necessary by corrective or punitive action.

Mr Bossu similarly argued that Ghana must become more decisive in protecting its water bodies.

He proposed that rivers and forest reserves be treated as security zones and no-go areas for mining, while policies protecting riparian and buffer zones should be strengthened into law.

He also called for greater financing for the remediation and restoration of polluted water bodies.

“We need to turn things around, and we cannot do that just by doing the same old things we are used to,” he said.

Mr Bossu argued that the government’s efforts to formalise the illegal mining sector must move faster, while alternative livelihoods should be developed for people whose economic circumstances push them towards illegal activities.

“Restoration is a must. We must prioritise that,” he said.

Across the different presentations, one message emerged repeatedly: Ghana cannot solve its environmental problems through government action alone.

The EPA representative described environmental protection as a shared responsibility involving industry, households, communities, regulators and other institutions.