The Water Resources Works and Housing Ministry is working closely with the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council (ARCC) to deploy a joint security taskforce to halt encroachment at the Barekese Dam.
The activities of illegal chainsaw operators and miners are affecting the smooth running of the Water Supply Systems in the region.
The Barekese and Owabi water supply systems are the two systems that supply water to the Kumasi city and its environs.
The two treatment systems take their source from two separate Dams with a total storage capacity of forty-three (43) million gallons per day for the indigenes of the Kumasi metropolis.
In 2011, Government of Ghana (GoG) expanded the Barekese treatment plant to increase supply by an additional six (6) million gallons of water a day.
The 10.5 million Europe project which was completed in January 2013 was funded from a commercial loan from ABN AMRO Bank of the Netherlands.
Officials of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in the Ashanti Region have revealed that the encroachment and activities of illegal chainsaw operators and miners are the major challenges hindering water supply in the region.
According to the Ashanti Regional Chief production manager of the GWCL,Mr Francis Awotwe the activities of the illegal chainsaw operators are fast depleting the forest cover and those carried out by Estate developers interfere with water courses and cause siltation in the Dams due to erosion.
He said the essence of the trees were to protect Barekese Dam so it can serve the purpose of producing 48 million gallons of water per day.
The manager is however unhappy about how the felling of the trees is depleting the environment.
“In the catchment we don’t allow farming activities though these activities go on around the Dam. If any farming activity at all, it would be beyond the buffer zone which is 100 meters away from the catchment area,” he indicated.
These activities Mr Awotwe noted were posing dangers to the smooth operations of the facility.
Although officials of the GWCL have involved the Police and Military on a swoop to arrest persons engaged in these illegal activities, they still find their way back.
The Minister of Water Resource Works and Housing, Dr Kwaku Agyemang Mensah who visited the facility on a day tour to the region said the illegal activities were destroying water bodies and his outfit is taking steps to deal with the situation.
The Sector Minister also disclosed that Military patrols will soon be deployed to the area to halt the activities of the illegal chainsaw operators and miners.
“We all know that water is life; we also know that there has been very serious encroachment and illegal felling of trees which is really affecting the operations at this Barekese catchment area, therefore everything possible have to be done to make sure that we protect it,” he noted.
He further said discussions are advance with the new Ashanti regional Minister to deploy the Military to man the facility to avoid further destruction by these illegal operations.
The minister also met with Heads of Departments under his Ministry to have first hand information about their concerns and how best the ministry can address them.
