The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa, says measures have been implemented to ensure that Akosombo and Kpong residents are safe as the Akosombo Dam spillage continues.
According to Mr. Antwi-Darkwa, VRA will evacuate residents to safe locations since the spillage of water from the Akosombo Dam will continue until the excess inflows recede.
“We are on phase II [of the spillage] right now and it is a cycle. It is normal at this time of the year for us to experience inflows. The difference is that we are getting more than expected and to safeguard this dam means that we have to spill water. That is the standard operation for any hydro dam but the inflows that we are seeing now are in excess”.
“Definitely, as the cycle goes through, this will recede so we are hoping it will recede in the next time,” he told journalists on Thursday, October 12″.
“The spilling may continue even though we are anticipating that the levels may drop down to phase 1, which was started on September 15 but of course, we did not have much excess as we are seeing now, this is an emergency as we have seen from the beginning”.
“Whether dredging or no dredging it is an emergency. The volume of water that is coming into the lake right now which we have to throw out, it means that we need to evacuate people from wherever they are to ensure they are safe until the inflows recede,” he added.
The second-stage spillage of the two dams has wreaked havoc on residents situated within the Asuogyaman District in the Eastern Region where the Akosombo Dam is located, and in the North, Central and South Tongu districts in the Volta Region.
Residents are still counting their losses as houses and structures for businesses are submerged.
As of Thursday, October, 12, the water level in the Akosombo Dam was 276.92 feet or 84.405 metres instead of 276 feet.
Before the spillage, the level was 272.50 feet or 83.058 metres.
At a press conference at the Akosombo Generation Station on Thursday, October 12, the Deputy Chief Executive of VRA in charge of Engineering and Operations, Edward Obeng Kenzo, explained that the spillage was necessitated by high inflows into the Akosombo reservoir, resulting in the water level exceeding its upper level.
He said the spillage was to prevent the water from overtopping and compromising the integrity of the dam.
This is not the first time VRA is spilling water from the Akosombo Dam. The last was in 2010, having spilt water from the dam in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1991.
The spillage began at a low rate for about one and a half weeks with no impact on downstream communities.
“However, the inflow into the reservoir continues to increase at a higher rate; therefore, there was the need to increase the spill rate in order to slow down the rate at which the reservoir elevation was rising. This has resulted in the flooding of some communities downstream of the dams,” Mr Kenzo said.