The Ghana Urban Water Company Limited (GUWL) has begun spilling excess water from the Weija Dam to avoid permanent damage to Accra's only water treatment plant.
The company opened two of the spillways on Saturday, June 15, 2013 between 11:30 a.m and 12.p.m when the water moved from its safe operational level of 47 to 47.7 feet.
The GUWL has five spillways and opens them depending on the amount of excess water that has to be spilled. So far, there has not been any flooding as the amount of water spilled was small, according to the Station Manager of the Weija Headworks, Mr Paul Gandaa.
That notwithstanding, residents in areas to be affected by the spillage have been asked to relocate immediately since the company would be compelled to open all five gates, depending on the level of water in the Densu River, the source of water for the dam.
The spilled water, Mr Gandaa said, travelled safely through a channel from Kasoa into the Atlantic Ocean through Mallam and Tetegu.
"Spilling excess water from the dam is critical to its existence", Mr Gandaa said.
He explained that failure to do so would result in some communities located in the lower part of Ga South being destroyed.
Mr Gandaa also told the Daily Graphic that the GUWL had not yet received any complaint from residents since the amount of water spilled at the time was not much.
The GUWL had earlier warned that seven communities in the Ga South Municipality in the Greater Accra Region might be flooded since the water level in the dam was rising steadily.
It, therefore, warned residents of the seven communities to relocate to safer grounds to avoid any disaster, but many have remained adamant, with some asking for compensation from the GUWL before they relocate.
The communities are: Bortianor, Lower Weija, Lower Oblogo, Lower McCarthy, Sapema, Tsokome, and Tetegu, as well as Pambros Salt Manufacturing Limited and Bojo Beach.
The fate of the communities depend on the amount of rainfall recorded in the Eastern Region where the Densu River takes its source.
<<Print>>