Good news as Akosombo dam records zero rise in last 24 hours

The Volta River Authority (VRA) has announced that the Akosombo Dam has not increased any further in the last 24 hours, days after rising to scary levels.

The Deputy Chief Executive of the VRA, Edward Obeng Kenzo, made this known 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 earlier this week complained about the consistent rise in the water level in the dam.

He justified the spillage of water from the dam, saying that nothing would be saved if the Akosombo Dam overtopped its operational level of 277.5 feet.

He indicated that although the Authority has no plans to spill more water in the coming days, Mr. Kenzo underscored that anything beyond the operational level of the dam would break it and lead to the complete wipeout of people and structures along the bank of the Volta River.

“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 said.

The VRA commenced the controlled water spillage from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams on September 15, 2023, due to a consistent rise in the inflow pattern and water level of the Akosombo reservoir.

Thousands of residents in South Tongu, North Tongu, Central Tongu, Asuogyaman, and several other areas have had their homes submerged due to the spillage.

 

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