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dam-l Ghana water shortages/LS
Water Everywhere in Ghana, But Not a Drop to Drink
By Mike Anane
ACCRA, Ghana, February 3, 2000 (ENS) - Floodwaters from the unusually heavy
rains that hit three northern
provinces in Ghana appear to be subsiding, and residents can be seen
leaving the crowded shelters for some of the
few homes that were not destroyed. The unprecedented floods late last year
killed 70 Ghanaians, displaced more than
280,000, and have left the people still thirsty months later.
Drinking water has become a scarce commodity even though
the wells and rivers in the area are overflowing with water.
Three full months after the floods, water bodies in the Upper
West, Upper East and Northern Regions of Ghana still bear
the scars of the devastation.
The majority of the damage done by the flooding is
environmental as tons of untreated human and industrial
waste washed into sources of drinking water.
More than 200 dams, wells and bore-holes in the upper West
Region are polluted with an amalgam of sewage, high colonies of fecal
coliform and used engine oil.
The effects on river and stream life is profound as waste pits leaked their
raw contents into bodies of water, and the
blue bloating carcasses of cows, sheep, goats, dogs and cats float in the
contaminated water.
At Dambai, the River Oti submerged the town's two refuse dumps. The river
serves as the main drinking water
supply for Dambai residents. People throughout the region are being asked
to boil their water till help arrives.
Ghana's Interior Minister, Nii Okaija Adamafio, estimates the cost of
rehabilitation and resettlement at close to
US$5 million. An appeal has gone out to the international community for
emergency assistance.
Osei Wusu, the Upper West Regional Minister, said that
US$1.06 million would be needed to rehabilitate affected
dams and chlorinate the water they hold to make it safe for drinking.
The Department of International Development of the United
Kingdom has responded to Ghana's appeal by contributing
50 thousand pounds sterling for the rehabilitation of polluted dams in the
three northern regions.
The National Disaster Management Organisation has organised a one day
training workshop on water chlorination
for 50 trainees from the five districts in the affected area.
Environmentalists interviewed attribute the floods to global warming. But
some residents in the affected areas say
"the gods" have a hand in the unusual floods that visited them in September
1999.
The annual floods this year throughout West Africa caused exceptional
damage, affecting almost every country in
the region.
Between June and September 1999, West Africa experienced exceptionally
heavy rainfall, flash floods and tropical
storms. Benin, Burkina-Faso, the Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Niger
and Senegal were the most severely
affected countries with widespread population displacement, loss of crops
and livelihoods and destruction of
property.
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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