Water Hyacinth, the dreadful water weed has been spotted at the Kpong head pond, Michael K. Dade, Senior Research Officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA) announced in Accra on Tuesday.
He said the weed, which was being monitored from the Oti River to prevent its infestation into the Akosombo dam, was rather spotted about one Kilometre below the Adomi Bridge and nine Kilometres from the Kpong hydro dam in March.
"We had to work fast in containing it to prevent Ghana's second hydro dam from eminent danger as well as check the water supply to Ghana Water Company's pumping station at Kpong," Dade said.
He was briefing members of the National Water Hyacinth Control Committee in Accra. Water Hyacinth is a dreadful weed whose negative impact on water bodies has been observed for many decades in various countries worldwide.
It has the ability to double its population in 15 to 18 days under suitable conditions, thereby, spreading over large geographical areas of water bodies within a short period.
Dade said information received from fishermen and communities along the banks of the river revealed that the hyacinth was first spotted around the Adomi Bridge in March 2003. He said given the extent, to which the weed had spread within the last three months and the importance of the Kpong head pond as well as the Volta River, the VRA took immediate control measures to stall the havoc it could have caused to the economy.
"Thirty-one colonies of water hyacinth were found along the stretch of water. Some fishermen alleged that the weed was brought to the area by one of the holiday resorts as an ornamental plant," he said.
"In all the VRA has been able to clear about 22 acres of weeds by manual removal and motorised control," he said, adding that after the clearing the whole area was under surveillance to prevent any regeneration and subsequent establishment of the weed.
Dade said the low level of awareness among fishermen and communities along the lake about the dangers of water hyacinth called for the institution of an awareness creation programme. Amoako-Atta de Graft-Johnson, a member of the NWHCC, said it was rather sad that since the weed was first spotted in Ghana in 1984, local communities had shown very little interest in the fight to curb its spread.
He appealed to the Parliamentary Select Committee to help address the issue of water hyacinth in Ghana.
