Akosombo Dam water level records zero rise in last 24 hours – VRA reveals

In the last 24 hours, the Akosombo dam’s water level has not risen, the Volta River Authority has disclosed, which indicates that there may soon be some respite for the victims of the flooding situation in the Volta Basin.

This heartwarming development was revealed by the Deputy Chief Executive of the VRA, Edward Obeng Kenzo on Citi FM on Thursday, October 19, 2023, during the station’s Breakfast Show.

This follows days of increase in the dam’s water level, compelling the VRA to spill some of it to protect the facility and avoid a more catastrophic disaster.

“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,” citinewsroom.com quotes Kenzo as saying.

Although he sympathized with the victims of the dam-induced flooding, he said the spillage was necessary to avoid the Akosombo Dam overtopping its operational level of 277.5 feet.

Kenzo added that the VRA would be left with no option but to spill more water if the level rises any further in the dam to guard against the wiping out of people and properties along the bank of the Volta River into the sea.

“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,” he said.

On September 15, 2023, the VRA started releasing regulated water from the Akosombo and Kpong dams as a result of a steady increase in the Akosombo dam's water level and inflow pattern.

The spillage has caused thousands of inhabitants in Asuogyaman, Central Tongu, North Tongu, South Tongu, and several other locations along the Volta River to have their homes flooded.

The government through its agencies such as the Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and various stakeholders, including private organisations and benevolent individuals have been mobilising relief items to alleviate the plight of the victims in the interim.

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