Guma Valley Water Dam, the biggest and oldest in Freetown is seriously threatened by land encroachers. The constant building of houses and other unauthorized structures near the dam threaten the only water supply to greater Freetown if authorities refuse to take immediate action.
The dam, which is the main source of water in Sierra Leone’s capital, seems to be under attack by land encroachers. Environmental experts believe the encroachers might have acquired ownership documents from the country’s Ministry of Lands and Country Planning.
Momodu Kargbo, in his late 60s, has been a Forest Guard, or ranger, at the Guma dam for the past 20 years. Over the years, he was witnessed how land encroachers have decimated the forest, and trees that held the dam together, and built structures and houses chaotically around the dam. He believes that if no action is taken to save the forest, there would be no good drinking water for residents in Freetown soon.
“They have spoiled the forest for us. We have tried, but we are unable to take back the forest from them. We have made a series of reports to government officials, but the situation is still the same. They are still cutting down trees to construct houses,” Kargbo said.
Solomon Bangali an Environmental expert of Climate Smart, agreed with Kargbo. He explained that rainfall is vital to keep the dam full, and the trees around the dam are the ones that stimulate the rain. If the trees are cut down, he said, there would be less stimulation for rainfall, and until the forest grows again within a decade or two, there would be a water problem for Freetown.
Moreover, trees also offer shade from the sun and protect the water from quickly evaporating from the soil. When trees are gone, the water is evaporated by the sun before reaching the dam. This means that the water resources accumulated during the rainy season will disappear a lot faster when the trees are gone.
“From my observation when I went to the [Guma] water dam in February, the water level was so low that it is not sufficient to supply the Freetown municipality. And one of the challenges is that the dam is too small. The amount of water currently [stocked] cannot service the approximately two million population in Freetown,” Bangali explained.
The government must do a better job enforcing the protection of the Guma water dam and its surroundings, especially what remains of the forested areas.
“We have to embark on public sensitization that trees are life and if you plant a tree you are protecting your life, and the lives of others. That would, in turn, help us to have more portable drinking water.”
Abdulai Kamara, who serves as security guard at the water treatment plant said that they only have two forest guards, also known as rangers, that protect the trees, and their only defense weapon is a small cutlass.
“People are invading the forest to burn coal and other things. Due to their actions, we are not having much rainfall,” Kamara stated.
Aruna Williams, Environmental Officer at Sierra Leone’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the water rationing, when water is restricted to only a few days a week, or a few hours a day, is the result of the encroachments into the dam vicinity and deforestation – meaning cutting of the forest trees – which render the dam open, unprotected from the hot sun. That is when the water from the dam, and also from the ground would evaporate a lot faster and contribute to extremely reduced quantities of water in the dam.
Williams added that the construction of houses in the catchment area is due to settlements – “and most of them will tell you they don’t have a place to sleep.”
He said the people need to be aware that the water dam is a protected area, and they would be the first to be affected if there will be environmental disasters and water shortages. They should be watchdogs for their environment and protect it. If they destroy the environment that gives them life, they will lose their only source of survival.
