KAWA MULTIMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
The problems created by the project
i. About 80,000 people were displaced and had to be resettled in 54 well planned townships.
ii. The lake is shallow in some places. This limits its use in some places.
iii. The problem of bilharzia which is caused by water snails.
iv. The ponding back of the water affects the neighbouring areas.
During the dry season the flood control gates remain closed most of the time and water only goes through the penstocks. In this way the 8500 square kilometre lake is kept as full as possible throughout the year.
The dam has brought many benefits to Ghana and her people. There is a large fishing industry run by the Battor tribes people who live round the lake. The annual yield has now settled to about 40000 tonnes: a valuable source of protein for a country with such tsetse fly problems. The lake provides a good north - south shipping route with Kete Krachi, Kpandu and Akosombo three of the main ports. Lake cargoes include fish, foodstuffs, firewood, charcoal and, of course, passengers.
The lake also provides a form of irrigation. As the level fails a little during the dry season a wide variety of food crops can be grown on the moist exposed soils. This practice, known as 'drawn- down' farming, produces out of season crops which fetch high prices in the towns.
Another benefit is the increased electricity supply which has risen by 1200.%, reducing costs aryi bringing light to millions of Ghanaian homes. The increased power has permitted new industries, encouraged the modernization of old ones such as saw milling and helped to reduce mining costs. Above all it has powered the new port and industrial town of Tema 27 kilometres east of Accra.
ii. The lake is shallow in some places. This limits its use in some places.
iii. The problem of bilharzia which is caused by water snails.
iv. The ponding back of the water affects the neighbouring areas.
During the dry season the flood control gates remain closed most of the time and water only goes through the penstocks. In this way the 8500 square kilometre lake is kept as full as possible throughout the year.
The dam has brought many benefits to Ghana and her people. There is a large fishing industry run by the Battor tribes people who live round the lake. The annual yield has now settled to about 40000 tonnes: a valuable source of protein for a country with such tsetse fly problems. The lake provides a good north - south shipping route with Kete Krachi, Kpandu and Akosombo three of the main ports. Lake cargoes include fish, foodstuffs, firewood, charcoal and, of course, passengers.
The lake also provides a form of irrigation. As the level fails a little during the dry season a wide variety of food crops can be grown on the moist exposed soils. This practice, known as 'drawn- down' farming, produces out of season crops which fetch high prices in the towns.
Another benefit is the increased electricity supply which has risen by 1200.%, reducing costs aryi bringing light to millions of Ghanaian homes. The increased power has permitted new industries, encouraged the modernization of old ones such as saw milling and helped to reduce mining costs. Above all it has powered the new port and industrial town of Tema 27 kilometres east of Accra.