Bagre dam spillage will feed Volta Lake - VRA

Back Page (lead), August 26/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

THE Volta River Authority (VRA) has stated that the spillage of excess water from the Bagre Dam in neighbouring Burkina Faso will have a positive impact on the Volta Lake, one of the major sources of hydro power in the country.
By this, the authority can rely more on hydro power generation and reduce thermal supply, which is operated at a much higher cost as a result of the soaring crude oil prices on the international market.
Mr Kirk Cofie, Director of Hydro at the VRA, told the Daily Graphic that the authority sympathised with the people who would be affected by the imminent floods resulting from the spillage but “it will swell the White and Black Voltas, which will force the water level in the Volta to rise to enable the authority to run more turbines to generate more power”.
He said even before the spills from the Bagre Dam could hit the Voltas, the persistent rains in the north of the country had had a positive impact on the lake.
Mr Cofie said as of yesterday, the water level in the Volta Lake stood at 251.90 feet, which is between 12 to 13 feet higher than that of the previous year within the same period.
“In this case, we have a positive expectation for this year as far as the water level in the Volta Lake is concerned.”
Last year, the country went through one of the worse energy crises in its history as a result of drought in northern Ghana, which caused the tributaries of the Volta Lake to run short of enough water to help power generation.
When all hope seemed lost, massive flooding as a result of torrential rains and the spillage of excess water from the Bagre Dam helped swell the Volta Lake, which brought an end to the crisis after the nation had expended several billions of dollars in the importation of crude oil to support thermal power generation.
Asked whether the VRA had put in place any measures to dredge the White and Black Voltas to trap more water during the spillage from the Bagre Dam, he replied that “we do not have any evidence that there is siltation in the two Voltas”.
On the effect of the numerous tree stumps in the lake, he said these had no effect on the operations in terms of power generation by the VRA.
He said the tree stumps were a nuisance to those who used the lake as a form of water transport and noted that the move by the government to give authority to a company to remove some of them was in the right direction.
Mr Cofie said the VRA had been assisting the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the regional bodies to alert the people in northern Ghana of the impending floods, which were likely to hit them as a result of the spills from the Bagre Dam.
"We have gone round on many occasions to sensitise the people long before the dam in Burkina Faso was opened and the compliance has been encouraging," he said.