Hydro-meteorological station installed at Bongo-Kunkua
Bongo-Kunkua (U/E), April 11, GNA – A hydro-meteorological station that will collect and disseminate data and information on hydro-weather climatic conditions in communities along the Volta Basin has been installed at Bongo-Kunkua in the Bongo District, Upper East Region.
The automated weather station would provide relevant information to detect early signs regarding meteorological variables including precipitation, temperature, and wind direction among other things to enable the communities to avert disasters such as floods and droughts.
The World Meteorological Organisation, a specialised agency of the United Nations, the Volta Basin Authority (VBA) and the Global Water Partnership in West Africa installed the station with funding from the Adaptation Fund.
It was under the « Integrating Flood and Drought Management and Early Warning for Climate Change Adaptation in the Volta Basin (VFDM) project,” which begun in June 2019 and will be completed in mid-2023.
It is locally implemented by the Organisation for Indigenous Initiatives and Sustainability (ORGIIS-Ghana).
The project integrates the implementation of Local Initiatives for Community Flood and Drought Management (GCIS) in six selected pilot communities of the Volta Basin, focusing among other things on strengthening their capacities to cope with hydro-meteorological events, the development of early warning dissemination channels and the improvement of end-user response.
Mr Ramesh Tripathi, the VFDM Project Manager, explained that due to climate change, Ghana had experienced lots of floods and drought in the past decade and the station was to help the Meteorological Agency to gather accurate data on severe weather and develop early systems for the communities to prevent disaster.
He said apart from the station providing information for emergency preparedness to save lives, it would also contribute to enhancing economic and agricultural activities thereby contributing to reducing poverty and attaining the Sustainable Development Goals.
Data gathered from the station could be mainstreamed into national policies and programmes to ensure communities got the infrastructure to cope with changing weather and disaster risk reduction, Mr Tripathi said.
“For instance, this station is covering a distance of about 10 square kilometres and due to the limited number of hydrological and meteorological stations in Ghana, when these kinds of stations are installed in the various zones, it will help to collect data to be able to predict accurately in terms of disaster and what is coming,” he said.
Mr Julius Awaregya, the Executive Director, ORGIIS-Ghana, said apart from an information centre attached to the hydro-weather station to disseminate information to community members, a flood and drought management committee had also been set up to support the community during emergencies.
Mr Briamah Abu, the Upper East Regional Director, Ghana Meteorological Agency, said the region had only six stations with obsolete equipment, which did not give accurate information and expressed the hope that the new station would contribute to attaining and distributing accurate weather information.
Anthony Apubeo
