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Mr Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, and some recruits of the Youth in Afforestation
Mr Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, and some recruits of the Youth in Afforestation

Forestry Commission plants trees to protect Weija Lake

To protect the Weija Lake from further encroachment and pollution, more than 60,000 tree seedlings have been planted in three communities along its shores.

The trees have been planted in the buffer zones separating the communities of Tomefa, Joma and Agbozume, all in the Ga South Municipality, from the lake where encroachment has reached 150 metres of the bank of the lake.

The Weija Lake is the second largest source of water supply to Accra and some parts of the Central Region.

Reducing cost

The project which covers an area of 55 acres and was began in July 2018 is being undertaken by the Youth in Afforestation programme and is under the supervision of the Forestry Commission.

Tree species planted include Ofram, Mahogany, Casia, Cederela and Emire.

A Technical Officer with the Ghana Water Company Limited, Mr Paul Senahia, said the company was pleased with the tree planting exercise.

He said the lake was too heavily polluted because people were building too close to the water body, adding that it was good that the government had come in to protect the remaining lands.

“The Ghana Water Company will spend less on chemicals in treating the water. Weija gives Accra East and West and parts the of Central Region water. If the water quality is not good, the cost of treatment rises.

This exercise will lead the water quality to improve. We thank the Forestry Commission for taking this initiative to protect the lake,” he said.

Mr Senahia made the commendation as he conducted the media and officials of the Forestry Commission, led by its Board Chairman, Brigadier General Joseph Odei, round the site.

Mr Senahia said if practical measures were not taken quickly, the Weija Lake could end up like the Korle Lagoon—filthy and polluted—considering the tonnes of waste dumped into it.

The tree planting project at the Weija Lake is part of a move by the Forestry Commission to reafforest lands in the country.

So far, more than 220 hectares of trees have been planted in some communities in the Greater Accra Region and 8,000 hectares nationwide to protect the environment.

Posterity

The Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, text­­said the commission was alarmed by the level of encroachment of lands adjoining the lake, hence its decision to plant trees to protect the lake.

“We need to protect the Densu basin. If we don’t stop encroaching, we will not have water some years to come,” he said.

Mr Owusu-Afriyie announced on the occasion that recruits on the tree planting module with the commission would be paid their allowances which had fallen late.

According to him, the commission would clear all of last year’s arrears owed the recruits by the end of February this year.

On transport challenges the recruits were facing, he said the commission had decided to hire buses to convey them to the various sites so they did not have to spend their allowances on transport.

Furthermore, he said, the commission would extend the tenure of the contract for the recruits beyond two years so that they could nurture the trees they had planted.

He commended the recruits for a good job done, adding that posterity would remember them as having saved an important water resource.

The problem

In 2015, the GWCL warned that the Weija Dam which supplied potable water to more than three million people would be forced to produce below its required capacity if urgent steps were not taken to halt communities in the dam’s catchment area from encroaching and conducting illegal activities.

The dam was constructed in 1978 and continues to be exposed to illegal activities such as indiscriminate harvesting of wood in its catchment area, sand winning and quarrying activities, farming in the dam area and use of harmful chemicals in fishing.

Another destructive activity affecting the water body is dumping of solid and liquid waste from domestic and industrial sources into the lake.

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