More disturbing is the practice in Ghana of waste disposal in its lakes and rivers. The Pra and Densu Rivers are poisoned by large amounts of mercury that is used in the illegal process of alluvial gold. Add insult with the “normal” activity of using the lakes such as Lake Bosumtwi, as a dumping sight and you have health and ecological disaster for inhabitants that use the water for domestic use. The inhabitants ingest this poisoned, mercury laden water, making people sick and spreading disease.
Many areas of Ghana are in crisis due to the unregulated
dumping practices in the country. In the Fosu Lagoon in Cape Coast, Central region, “a group of scientists were actually able to “walk” on the lagoon due to the extremely solid state of this lagoon caused by amazingly high levels of pollution.” The thick pollution in this lagoon has been created from the waste from a mechanical shop and piggery in the area of the lagoon. Other examples of highly polluted areas of Ghana include the Essipuon Stadium in the western region of Ghana that has a stench due to the dumping of liquid and solid waste. Also, in the New Takoradi region of Ghana, the sea has turned a different color from all the pollution. The entire Gulf of Guinea threatens the Atlantic Ocean.
Government authorities need to commit to efforts to solve the waste problems of Ghana by enforcing the regulations it imposes for violators. The country is facing ecological disaster if it continues its complacent stance on the issue. Ghana’s inhabitants also are complacent about the dumping in the lakes and rivers in their country. They see dumping as a normal part of life and their domestic lives continue even when the water is contaminated with waste from humans and animals. They cook, bathe and drink the polluted waters. There will need to be a huge push to educate about indiscriminate disposal of waste and how the dumping spreads disease. The inhabitants need to see the benefits to not only the environment but also to their health.
Ghana is a developing country. The poor state of Ghana’s
solid waste management system has been compounded by rapid urbanization.
Modernizing the infrastructure cannot come fast enough. The country is
struggling to keep up with its own growth. A country, like Ghana, is in need of
clean potable water, a reliable system of electric power, highways, and a
system of waste disposal to sustain its country’s rapid urbanization. To step
into the modern industrial world, Ghana will need money and capital to invest
in its future. It will need help from the developed industrial countries to identifying
the improvements needed on existing dumpsites, the implementation of new
technology and the cleanup of the polluted waterways of Ghana.
Thu, Apr 18th, 2013
By Daily Guide Ghana
baaba.lou@gmail.com
By Baaba Eshun-Wilson
