Find Lasting Solution to Problems Associated with Bagre Dam Spillage

In last week’s issue of The Spectator, we carried a story headlined, “Annual Bagre Dam Spillage, a Blessing or a Curse?”

The story revealed that the spillage of the dam by the management of Burkina Faso has become a perennial challenge for many farming communities along the White and Black Volta basins in the northern part of Ghana.

While thousands of people are displaced, farmers count their losses yearly as entire fields of maize, groundnuts, and rice vanish beneath raging waters. We are also told that mud-walled houses crumble under the force of the floods, roads connecting villages disappear, schools close, and classrooms are turned into makeshift shelters for displaced families.

Although the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) rushes in with relief items such as mattresses, blankets, and bags of rice to mitigate the impact of the flooding, these items — though vital — are often insufficient compared to the magnitude of devastation.

The situation is worrying, but the problem has not been fully addressed, as it has for years caused destruction downstream in many communities, especially among farmers.

It is a pity that, though NADMO continues to urge residents in flood-prone areas across the Upper East, North East, Savannah, and Northern Regions to relocate to safer grounds, for many, relocation is not an option. Their livelihoods are tied to fertile riverbanks, and abandoning their farms would mean giving up the only source of income they know.

Ironically, amidst the destruction, the same flood that wreaks havoc also deposits nutrient-rich silt on farmlands, making them more fertile for dry-season farming.

It is therefore time for the government to construct proper irrigation systems so that these communities can turn disaster into opportunity — using the water to grow crops in the dry season to sustain themselves.

It is also time for the long-promised construction of the Pwalugu Multi-Purpose Dam in the Upper East Region to come to fruition. This project would serve as a buffer for excess water from the Bagre Dam and generate electricity.

There is also the need to control the spillage by starting it gradually each month instead of waiting until the dam is full before releasing the water at once.

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) should enforce strict measures to prevent construction in flood-prone areas.

Before each spillage begins, ample time should be given to residents through public announcements to enable them to move to safer places ahead of time. Besides traditional media such as radio and television, The Spectator urges authorities to also engage traditional and religious leaders in spreading such messages to ensure residents receive the information early.

We are told the spillage of the dam is necessary to prevent it from collapsing when water levels exceed safe limits. However, it continues to create havoc and has become a yearly cycle of loss and recovery.

The spillage of the Bagre Dam is a recurring disaster that demands an urgent and lasting solution to make life better for residents and farmers.

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