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.
<<Print>>