FIELD TRIP TO ASAGO AND ESERESO

Led by:  Bright Asare Boade and Donald Thompson

Report by Bright Asare Boade

AT ASAGO

VISIT TO THE CONFLUENCE OF ODA AND SISA

Team members went to Asago as their starting point. At Asago, members went to the confluence of Oda and Sisal. Participants were welcomed by the powerful stench that emanates from the river. There is a lot of garbage at decomposing stage in the river, which gives rise to that powerful odour.  Besides that the river has become very shallow due to the garbage and sawdust it carries along.

CAUSES OF THE POLLUTION

This massive pollution is mostly caused by communities and industries located upstream. The most noted industries are the sawmillers, breweries, abattoir, Nnuro Kente dying factory and other small-scale industries.

EFFECTS ON THE PEOPLE OF ASAGO

It was reported in the community that an outbreak of cholera is an annual affair, because some community members drink from the polluted river and this is their source of contracting cholera.

The stench from the stream is also another source of serious problem that the people in the community are battling with.

Some years-back people were fishing heavily in the river but now the fishing is done on a lighter scale. Marketing of their catch is also a big problem because people refuse to buy from them considering the level of pollution.

EROSION AT ASAGO

Asago community is located on sloping ground and on sandy soil , and soil erosion is highly facilitated whenever it rains. Most of the walls of the buildings are almost collapsing because their foundations have been eroded away.

VISIT TO THE COMMUNITIES BOREHOLE AND UNCOMPLETED HAND-DUG WELL SITES

The participants praised the community for maintaining a very clean environment around the borehole. However they were advised to use stones to check erosion around the apron of the well.  Though the borehole is located downhill while the cemetery is also located uphill, after careful observation participants were of the view that the cemetery is sufficiently far away from the borehole so that it cannot pollute the borehole.

On the other hand the community were advised to stop dumping refuse close to the hand-dug well, which could easily pollute the well. They were further admonished to sink the well more deeply to avoid pollution from either the surface water or possibly the cemetery.

AT ESERESO

A visit was made to a sandpit and a nursery site. On our way to the sandpit an observation was made, that a refuse dump has been sited at the banks of a stream and part of the garbage is in the stream and thereby polluting the stream.

AT SANDPIT

It was found that a large area of the land has been depleted of its topsoil and the greater part of subsoil. This has rendered the land infertile and both wind and soil erosion is very prevalent at the site.

An environmental officer within our group was asked why they have allowed some individuals to degrade the environment. He responded by saying that a new law has been established, which required the sand and stone winners to send their reclamation plans to EPA, and to deposit an amount of money with the District Assembly in which they are working as guarantee. He stressed that sand winners are expected to scoop the topsoil aside and after winning is complete they are supposed to replace the topsoil in its former place. By so doing, vegetation could again thrive well on the place where the sand was taken from.

AT THE ESERESO SEEDLING NURSERY SITE

On our way back from the sandpit a brief stop over was made at a seedling nursery site. There were a lot of trees and fruit seedlings, which communities could purchase to use to protect their environment.

An observation made there was that trees were nursed in  discarded iced water polysacks. An expert within our group advised that, an amount of heat that is needed for proper growth of the plant couldn't be obtained in the white polysacks so they should stick to the use of black polysacks.

From the nursery site participants moved straight to KNUST to continue discussion on the field trip.