Nsawam police hunt for sand winners for blocking water flowing to dam
The police in Nsawam are on the heels of illegal sand winners whose activities caused a blockage in the flow of the Densu River and plunged the Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipality into a situation of an acute water crisis for about three months.
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The sand winners, who are currently at large, allegedly blocked the Kua River, a tributary of the Densu River which is the source of water supply to the dam, causing the dam to dry up.
Meanwhile, the authorities of the assembly and the district police command have cleared the blockage, leading to the restoration of water supply to some parts of the municipality.
During the water crisis, the residents relied on the benevolence of individuals and organisations for water supply, while the municipal assembly instituted temporary measures to offer relief to them.
Tanker services supplied about 15 tankers of water daily to the residents, under the auspices of the Municipal Assembly, to ease the impact of the crisis.
With the collaboration of the National Security Secretariat and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GCWL), the tankers supplied water at no cost to key establishments such as schools, hospitals, and the Medium Security Prisons
Visit
When a team of journalists joined officials from the municipality, led by its Chief Excutive, Mr Ben Ohene Ayeh, on a visit to the dam site yesterday, workers of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GCWL) were seen busily working to restore water supply to the entire municipality. The water in the dam was almost full to the brim barely a day after the blockage was removed.
The water treatment plant at the Nsawam dam, at its full capacity, supplies 1.2 million gallons of water daily to residents in the area and its environs.
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Mr Ayeh, who briefed journalists on the state of affairs, said he received a report last Tuesday from some residents of Mensahkrom, near Kyekyewere in the adjoining Ayensuano District that the Kua River had overflown its bank and caused damage to farms.
“An interim assessment of the situation revealed that some people’s indiscriminate sand winning activities had blocked the course of the river, making the water to spill over. It is the reason why the residents of this area had to suffer acute water shortage,” he said.
Mr Ayeh said he liaised with the police to dispatch a team there to get the culprits arrested but they were believed to have had a tip-off and gone into hiding before the police closed in on them.
“The team mobilised some of the residents in that community to clear the heap of sand that blocked the flow of the river,” Mr Ayeh said.
The Crime Officer at the Nsawam District Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rev. John Agbemabiese, said the police had increased surveillance to bring the perpetrators to book.
“Crime prevention is a shared responsibility so we are calling on the public to volunteer information that would help the police to get the culprits arrested,” he said.