The Volta River Authority (VRA) has declared that the Akosombo Dam has not risen any more in the previous 24 hours, after rising to frightening heights in recent days.
Edward Obeng Kenzo, the VRA’s Deputy Chief Executive, stated this in an interview with Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM on Thursday, October 19, 2023.
“We are below the 277.50 feet level. Today’s rise was zero which means the inflow and what we are spilling is the same. The level is around 277.36 as of this morning,” he stated.
Mr. Kenzo protested earlier this week about the dam’s constant rise in water level.
He rationalized the dam leakage by claiming that nothing would be rescued if the Akosombo Dam exceeded its operating level of 277.5 feet.
Although the Authority has no intentions to release additional water in the coming days, Mr. Kenzo emphasized that anything above the operating level of the dam will breach it, resulting in the entire annihilation of people and infrastructure along the Volta River’s bank.
“We don’t want to spill any additional volume of water. We are tracking and with the data, we believe that we may not spill any volume of water. But if there should be any unexpected heavy rains into the dam, we’ll be compelled to spill. Where we are now, we are around 277.26 feet of water behind the dam. The dam’s operational level is 276, the maximum allowable operational level of the dam is 277.5 feet.”
“So we are left with only about 0.24 feet to get to that maximum operational level of the dam. So any level beyond this, we are putting the dam’s integrity at risk. If the dam should break, the volume of water that will come out of the dam – all those along the banks of the river, all the way to somewhere around Tema will be wiped into the sea. No human being will be saved, no structure will be saved, nothing will be saved,”
Mr. Kenzo explained.
Due to a persistent rise in the inflow pattern and water level of the Akosombo reservoir, the VRA began controlled water leakage from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams on September 15, 2023.
Thousands of people in South Tongu, North Tongu, Central Tongu, Asuogyaman, and other districts have had their homes flooded as a result of the spillage.
