KMA ORDERED TO SEAL OFF WASTE AT BAREKESE (MIRROR, PAGE 22)

From Ashanti Region

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi

THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to seal off tonnes of solid waste dumped at the catchment area of the Barekese Dam.
It also ordered that the waste dumped at Ohwim and within the catchment area of the dam should be sealed with soil to prevent it from polluting the dam.
According to the EPA, some of the materials that had been dumped contained poisonous chemicals which would be very difficult to treat when they polluted the dam.
The Barekese Dam is the main source of water supply for residents of the Kumasi metropolis and its environs.
The Ashanti Regional Director of the EPA, Mrs Philomina Boakye Appiah, who gave the order, also directed the KMA to stop dumping any solid waste within the catchment area, threatening that it would institute legal action against the assembly if it flouted the order.
Explaining the action of the EPA in an interview with The Mirror, Mrs Appiah said apart from the danger of polluting the dam, making the cost of treatment very huge at the expense of the state, the solid waste also posed serious health hazards to residents of Ohwim.
She said as the waste decomposed, it was likely to flow into the dam anytime it rained to pollute it, thereby making the cost of treating the water very expensive.
She could not comprehend why the KMA, which had a well engineered and approved landfill site at Dompoase, a Kumasi suburb, could dump refuse at a sensitive place like the catchment area of the dam.
Earlier, an officer at the Communications Department of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Mr Haruna Asoga, had told newsmen about the problems being created by the KMA.
He said since the EPA had the mandate to stop people from dumping waste at unapproved sites, the GWCL hinted the agency about the waste being disposed there and the danger it posed to the dam, as well as the health hazard likely to be caused.
When newsmen contacted the KMA to explain its action, the Director of Waste Management, Mr Tony Mensah, said, “We were in a desperate situation to dispose of refuse to create a clean environment in Kumasi and since the landfill site at Dompoase was not in good condition to receive waste, we directed our attention to Ohwim to meet the demands of a certain group of people.”
Explaining, he said last year there was a crisis with the disposal of refuse in Kumasi, especially during the CAN 2008 tournament which coincided with the ‘Citywide Solid Waste Collection Scheme’.
He said with residents refusing to pay for the refuse disposed of and the assembly facing serious financial difficulties to pay some of its contractors, there was the need to look for another dumping site to take the excess solid waste being create