DENSE masses of plastic bottles and
rubbish clogging the Owabi water dam in the Ashanti Region have become acute
that the chairman of the Parliamentary Select
Committee on Works and Housing is calling for the area to be declared a
security zone.
John Nana Amoako,
Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper Denkira East, believes that declaring the
area a security zone will ward off encroachers from the dam that supplies
potable water to residents of Kumasi, as the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL)
prepares to wage a war against the longstanding culture of throwing
rubbish into streams and canals.
Speaking to journalists after a
tour of the facility, the MP stated that there would be potable water delivery
problem for residents of Kumasi and its environs if urgent action was not taken
immediately to stop the explosive spread of plastic containers in the Owabi
River.
The GWCL said the
Owabi dam had lost 50 per cent of its storage capacity due to sedimentation
caused by human activities such as sand winning, illegal logging, farming along the banks of the river, as
well as construction of permanent structures right in the catchment of the dam.
According to GWCL,
the Owabi water dam, which was originally built with water level of 22 feet, is
currently at eight feet with 14 out of the 22 feet silted.
After witnessing
the shocking sight of concentrated plastic waste in the river, members of the
Parliamentary Select Committee wanted the GWCL to take legal action against
encroachers, especially those building around the dam, to preserve it.
According to the committee’s chairman, the GWCL needed to engage stakeholders, particularly chiefs, who wield powers in the area to fight the encroachers and the plastic menace to save the dam.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi
