Weija Dam Under Threat (Front Page)

Story: Michael Donkor
THE persistent use of dynamite by stone winners to blast rocks near the Weija Dam has exposed the dam to imminent collapse, experts have warned.
The situation also threatens the survival of about 2.8 million residents of the Eastern and Western parts of Accra who rely on the Weija Dam for their water supply.
By early afternoon yesterday when a team of mediamen and experts toured the dam site, the stone winners had inched within a few steps to the dam, with their blasting causing trembles to the dam and the pump station any time the rocks were blasted.
The stone winners operating along the banks of the dam have completely levelled the entire hilly part of the area.
The caved in part of area appeared in danger of collapsing any time soon into the dam.
Any time the stone winners blasted the rocks, huge stones and sand dropped into the dam, polluting it and reducing the depth of the water gradually.
The Plant Manager at the Weija site of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Mr Michael Amuakwa, told newsmen during the visit that the imminent collapse of the dam would be disastrous to human lives and property.
He said two weeks ago a blast was carried out at the site and the impact was felt at the pump house.
He said apart from the fact that residents of Accra who received their water supplies from the Weija Dam would not get water, areas in and around Weija, Gbawe, parts of Dansoman and the rest could be flooded.
Mr Amuakwa stressed the need for the authorities concerned to stop the activities of the stone winners to prevent a disaster from occurring.
The old dam was washed away in 1958. Work on the current one started in 1974 and it was inaugurated in 1978. It currently supplies 40 million gallons of water a day for distribution to the western parts of Accra.
Mr Amuakwa said apart from the activities of the stone winners, some squatters were also encroaching on the land belonging to the GWCL.
He said it was not advisable for people to live close to the pump station because of the chlorine gas that was used there.
Mr Amuakwa said 13,000 acres of land around the station had been encroached on.
He said chlorine gas was dangerous to human health and noted that the gas could also explode anytime. He explained that workers of the company had been trained to handle chemicals and knew what to do in the event of a disaster. He, therefore, asked the squatters to vacate the area.
He said the people should live at least five kilometres away from the pump station.
Mr Amuakwa said the GWCL planned to increase the capacity of the station to 50 million gallons but said human activities around the area did not help the expansion programme.
The District Chief Executive for Ga West, Mr Quartey Papafio, said the area had been taken over by land guards who protected the property of the encroachers while they developed their buildings.
He said the activities of the land guards had made it difficult for his men to stop the illegal developments going on there.
Mr Papafio noted that the land guards often issued death threats to officials from the Ga West District Assembly who patrolled the area to ensure that structures were not erected illegally.
Some of the stone winners who spoke to the Daily Graphic said they had been operating in the area for years and that they had no place to go to earn their living.
They, therefore, appealed to the government to find a suitable place where they could earn a living to relocate.