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Mr. Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie and some young recruits from the group Young in afforestation
To protect Weija Lake from encroachment and pollution, more than 60,000 tree seedlings were planted in three communities along its shores.
The trees were planted in the buffer zones separating the communities of Tomefa, Joma and Agbozume, all located in the South Ga municipality, from the lake where the encroachment reached 150 meters from the shore of the lake.
Lake Weija is the second largest source of water supply in Accra and parts of the central region.
Cost reduction
The project, which covers an area of 55 acres and started in July 2018, is being undertaken by the Youth in Reforestation program and is under the supervision of the Forestry Commission.
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The tree species planted are Ofram, Mahogany, Casia, Cederela and Emir.
A technical officer of the Ghana Water Company Limited, Mr. Paul Senahia, said that the company was satisfied with the exercise of tree planting.
He said the lake was too polluted because people were building too close to the water, adding that it was good that the government had come to protect the remaining land.
"Ghana Water Company will spend less on chemicals to treat water. Weija gives East and West Accra and some of the water from the central region. If the quality of the water is not good, the cost of treatment increases.
This exercise will improve the quality of the water. We thank the Forestry Commission for taking this initiative to protect the lake, "he said.
Senahia praised the media and officials of the Forestry Commission, led by the chairman of his council, Brigadier General Joseph Odei, around the site.
Mr Senahia said that if practical measures were not taken quickly, Lake Weija could end up as Korle's lagoon – dirty and polluted – if we consider the tons of waste dumped there. .
The Weija Lake Tree Planting Project is part of an initiative of the Forestry Commission to reforest land 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 said the commission was alarmed by the degree of encroachment of land adjacent to the lake, hence its decision to plant trees to protect it.
"We need to protect the Densu Basin. If we do not stop impinging on it, we will not have water in the years to come, "he said.
Mr Owusu-Afriyie announced on this occasion that people recruited in the tree planting module with the commission would receive their compensation, which had fallen late.
According to him, the commission would clear all the arrears of last year towards the recruits by the end of February of this year.
Acting on the transportation issues that recruits are facing, he said the commission had decided to rent buses to transport them to the various sites so that they were not obliged to spend their transportation allowances .
In addition, he added, the commission would extend the contract term of recruits beyond two years, so that they can grow the trees they planted.
He commended the recruits for the job well done, adding that posterity would remember them as having saved an important water resource.
The problem
In 2015, GWCL warned that the Weija Dam, which provided drinking water to more than three million people, would be forced to produce below its required capacity if urgent measures were not taken to prevent communities from flooding. located in its basin to prevent illegal activities and encroach them.
The dam was built in 1978 and continues to be exposed to illegal activities such as the indiscriminate harvesting of wood in its watershed, extraction and sand mining activities, the 39 farm in the dam sector and the use of harmful chemicals in fishing.
Another destructive activity affecting the water plan is the discharge of solid and liquid waste from domestic and industrial sources into the lake.
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