Solar water disinfection training for Likpe Bakua residents

The Youth Volunteers for the Environment (YVE), a non-governmental organization, has organised a training programme in Solar Water Disinfection Technology (SODIS) for residents in Likpe Bakua in the Jasikan District of the Volta Region.

“It is a technology of putting unclean water from rivers in used voltic bottles and putting them on a zinc surface in the sun for six hours after which every bacteria in the water will be killed and the water will be clean for safe drinking,” Mr Lovans Owusu-Takyi, Executive Director for YVE, Ghana explained in an interview with the Ghana News Agency.

He said the training was aimed at helping the community to improve their health and well-being by drinking purified water.

Mr Owusu-Takyi said the NGO was committed to improving livelihoods through ensuring environmental sustainability and said the use of the SODIS technology helped to improve safe water, health as well as protects the environment because it reduced the usage of fuel wood to boil water which demanded tree felling to provide energy.

“The SODIS technology is well acclaimed and well researched as a safe way of purifying water with solar,” he stressed.

Mr Lloyd Titus Amedome, Programme Co-coordinator of YVE, who facilitated the workshop, said the Likpe Community’s only source of water was a river that passed through the community. It serves as a source of drinking water and is also used for domestic and all other purposes. However, it has been a source of many illnesses in the area.

He, therefore, asked the people to ensure that they drink purified water to ensure their good health.

Mr Amedome assured the residents that the NGO would give them more training in other areas such as solar cookers, fuel efficient stoves and  alternative livelihood projects to combat the effect of Climate Change through mitigation and community adaptation and building resilience.

Source: GNA