TMA constructs waste treatment plant in Bankuman

The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has constructed a wastewater treatment plant to solve the perennial faecal waste disposal problems in Bankuman and surrounding communities.

The 3,000 cubic metres capacity wastewater treatment plant also has the ability to turn the dried sludge into compost for agricultural use.

The Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Yohane Amarh Ashitey, who disclosed this at the first ordinary meeting of the first session of the ninth Assembly of the TMA, said the facility was designed to treat sewage discharged from the eastern basin of the Tema Metropolis which covers parts of Communities Four and Seven, to acceptable Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) effluent levels, before discharging into the ocean.

The plant

Mr Ashitey said the facility consisted of a grit chamber, detention pond, an innovative trickling filter technology, a secondary detention tank and a sludge drying bed, adding that it was envisaged that the dried sludge would be converted into compost to be used by farmers in the near future.

He said the assembly, with support from its partners, had digitised the sewer network map in the Tema Metropolis, emphasising that through that, the sewerage network had been mapped into a Geographic Information System (GIS) for use by the Waste Management Department of the assembly and residents at large.

This, the MCE explained, had improved operation and maintenance and also ensured easy identification and location of sewer lines and inspection chambers to allow free flow of sewage.

Mr Ashitey said since assuming office, the assembly had taken steps to prioritise environmental sanitation to ensure that Tema regained its past glory as a clean and well-planned city.

Environmental sanitation

He said this year, the assembly would collaborate with all the relevant institutions and agencies to embark on routine clean-up exercises within the metropolis. “Already the Regional Co-ordinating Council led by Daniel Titus-Glover has taken the lead in ensuring that the region is clean.

We have submitted our sanitation and clean-up exercise plan to the region as requested and very soon vigorous action will be seen in the metropolis,” he said. He also disclosed that the assembly’s bye-laws had finally been gazetted and this was expected to instil some form of discipline and ensure compliance by all residents of the Tema Metropolis.

Mr Ashitey said the Environmental Health Unit of the assembly had also instituted measures to strengthen its prosecution of sanitation offenders. He called on the assembly members to support the assembly to realise its agenda of making Tema restore its past glory as the cleanest metropolis.

Writer’s email: Benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh