Fiapre Traditional Council takes steps to protect water bodies

The Fiapre Traditional Council in the Sunyani West Municipality has taken steps to protect streams in the town from pollution and contamination.

The Council has therefore started desilting streams in the area, including; ‘Atta Dei Kofi', a stream which was polluted by some individuals with waste water through directed pipelines from their houses.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Fiapre on behalf of Obrempong Professor Kyem-Amponsah II, the Chief of the town, Nana Kwadwo Antepim, the Fiapre Chief linguist said the desilting exercise was to restore the streams to clean state to make them wholesome for domestic use.

He cautioned unpatriotic residents who were polluting and contaminating the ‘Atta Dei Kofi’ stream and other water bodies to stop that to avoid arrest and prosecution in the court of law.

Nana Antepim cited the 'Atta Dei Kofi' stream particularly had been a major source of water for both domestic and agricultural purposes since time immemorial, hence, the effort by the Council to prevent any act of environmental degradation to pollute and contaminate it.

He explained the ‘Atta Dei Kofi’ stream was being desilted from its source to its meeting point with 'Kumasu', another stream serving as the traditional boundary between Fiapre and the people of Dumasua, a community after Fiapre on the Berekum road.

Nana Antepim said besides the desilting exercise, the Council had started coconut plantation along the banks of the ‘Atta Dei Kofi’ stream to facilitate and speed up its ecological restoration and also serve as a source of revenue to improve the economic strength of the town.

Mr. Kwakusei Jones, a volunteer in charge of the plantation project told GNA he could plant 3000 seedlings 50 feet away on both sides along the stream’s bank.

He appealed to residents of the area and Ghanaians, in general, to desist from acts causing pollution and extinction of water bodies in the country, stressing that all Ghanaians must unite in support of the government and traditional authorities to protect the water bodies because no one could live without water.