BURYING THE DEAD IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS ...Threat to water bodies in Upper West (PAGE 40)

THE burying of the dead in residential premises in some rural communities in the Upper West Region poses a threat to the pollution of boreholes and wells in those communities.
The practice exposes those rural communities to health risks associated with contaminated water sources.
Most rural communities in the region, in particular, and northern Ghana in general, obtain their drinking water from boreholes and wells. Some of the communities even depend on drinking water from unsafe sources such as streams and ponds.
According to the 2004 Annual Progress Report on the implementation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy published in March 2005, 56.2 per cent of poor rural households and 62.3 per cent of very poor households obtain their drinking water from boreholes, while 31.6 per cent of rural households still depend on unsafe sources of drinking water, such as ponds, streams and unprotected wells.
In most rural communities in the region, some family heads and their spouses who die at old age are buried in the courtyards or very close to their houses. The practice is common in the three northern regions and explains the presence of graves in some residential premises.
In such communities, wells have been drilled in some courtyards, while other wells and boreholes have been drilled very close to some houses. In some of the communities, graves are as close as about 50 metres to boreholes and wells. In some instances, the boreholes and wells existed before the graves were made, and vice versa.
In spite of the threat it poses to the contamination of water sources, the burying of the dead in residential premises is prevalent in rural communities in northern Ghana. Several reasons account for the prevalence of the practice.
In the first place, it is an entrenched practice accorded to heads of families for them to be easily remembered.
Second, in some small rural communities, there are no cemeteries and the burying of the dead takes place haphazardly, including in residential premises.
Third, a large segment of the general public, especially the rural dwellers, are not aware of the risk the practice poses to their health.
This stems from the fact that burying of the dead has not been taken seriously as a sanitation issue in water resource management.
Graves that are very close to boreholes and wells pose a threat to the pollution of such water sources and make the users vulnerable to water-related diseases, with immense adverse effects on their socio-economic well-being.
Infiltration from such graves will contaminate nearby boreholes and wells with bacteria and fungi from decomposed corpses.
People who drink from such water sources may contract diseases such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid, infectious hepatitis and diarrhoea, which may reach epidemic levels.
For instance, a water quality test conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2003 on a borehole that is about 55 metres from a cemetery in Gwollu in the Sissala West District revealed bacteriological contamination of the water from decomposed human bodies. The EPA, therefore, advised the community to stop using the borehole.
Besides, a borehole near the Wa Meteorological Station has been contaminated by infiltration from a nearby grave and is no longer used for drinking purposes.
Again, the mortality rate in northern Ghana may remain high if water sources get contaminated and users of such water sources contract diseases. This could undermine efforts being made to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing the infant, child and maternal mortality rates by the year 2015.
The inadequate water supply situation in some rural communities in the region could be worsened, as affected communities may be compelled to stop using polluted boreholes and wells.
In communities where such polluted water sources were hitherto the only sources of safe drinking water, the people may revert to the use of unsafe water sources such as streams and ponds for drinking. This could result in guinea worm infestations in those communities. Such a situation is likely to hinder efforts being made to achieve the MDG of reducing by half the number of people without access to safe drinking water by the year 2015.
Furthermore, as rural communities expand, graves may conflict with the laying of water supply pipelines in future as they turn to be scattered about.
If this impending threat to water pollution is not controlled, it will contribute significantly to the impoverishment of the rural poor in northern Ghana. Collaborative action, therefore, ought to be taken by stakeholders in the water and sanitation sectors to ensure that the practice is discontinued.
According to an environmentalist, Mr Emmanuel Lignule, communities that buried dead bodies in residential premises needed to be educated to understand the problem associated with the practice.
He said communities that did not have cemeteries should establish some, as all dead bodies should be buried in cemeteries.
Mr Lignule stated that the construction of boreholes and wells should go through environmental assessment to ensure that their locations were appropriate.
He urged owners of water sources such as boreholes and wells to carry out water quality tests periodically to ensure that contaminated water was not consumed.
Mr Lignule stressed the need for district assemblies in the three northern regions to enact bye-laws compelling all communities to establish cemeteries and bury dead bodies there.
Such bye-laws, he emphasised, must be strictly enforced.