TWO UPPER REGIONS TO EXPERIENCE LESS RAINFALL (D/G, Thursday, August 20, 2009. PAGE 35)

THE Upper East and Upper West regions are unlikely to experience floods as recorded in August and September, 2007, that led to massive destruction of lives and property, the acting Executive Secretary of the Water Resources Commission (WRC), Mr Ben Ampomah, has disclosed.
Mr Ampomah was speaking to the Daily Graphic at Bolgatanga on the sidelines of a workshop for journalists and information officers selected from Ghana, Burkina Faso and Togo, on Water Resource Management.
He explained that the situation had come about as a result of an agreement signed between Ghana and Burkina Faso to open more channels of communications for quicker exchange of information and response to spilling and possible flooding.
The northern regions are vulnerable to floods that damage property and lives.
It would be recalled that in 2007, due to excessive rains coupled with the opening of the sluice gates of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso at short notice, the entire area was flooded and a number of lives were lost and property worth several thousands of cedis was destroyed.
The Volta Basin is the main and largest shared waters for both Ghana and Burkina Faso. The basin serves as a source of water supply, hydro power and irrigation for both countries.
According to Mr Ampomah, the water level in the Bagre Dam this time round was low as compared to previous years.
“Officials of both countries have been meeting to discuss the issue and we are very hopeful that we are not going to experience that incident again”, he said.
“It’s not every year that there is going to be a spillage, it depends on the water levels. So far this year, indications are that the water levels are low, and we hope that that we are not going to experience that but whenever there is a change we will quickly inform the population along the banks of the White Volta and make them aware of the dangers that lie ahead”, he said.
Mr Ampomah stated that key stakeholders, including NADMO as well as the Volta River Authority, (VRA) and their counterparts in Burkina Faso, SONABEL have all been informed and made aware of the situation.
He, however, stated that once there was a change, the population of the communities along the White Volta would be notified and the necessary contingency measures taken to avert flooding.
The sensitisation programme for the journalists which was sponsored by PAGEV (a trans-boundary project for improving water governance in the Volta Basin) was to expose the selected participants from the three countries on the institutional and established legal frameworks for the management of water resources with the view to equip them to assist in informing and educating the concerned population.
The Acting Executive Director, who also co-chairs the Ghana-Burkina Joint Technical Committee Integrated Water Resources Management, (JTC-IWRM), said although Ghana and Burkina Faso had come a long way towards addressing their trans-boundary water management issues, a lot more work remains to be done to improve the shared responsibility for managing trans-boundary waters of the two countries
He called on the government of Ghana and Burkina Faso to demonstrate improved political will to continue nurturing the opportunities for trans-boundary cooperation.