By Hassan I. Conteh
JP Panda seemed absolutely worried as his strings of wells get dried up. He owns a dam at Mount Aureol community. The area, Bod Water, as it is locally called, has been seriously affected by encroachers.
The wells, which used to provide water for the community, are drying up as trees are rapidly cut down. The dryness of the wells is also caused by construction of houses. It is also because rocks, close to the wells, are set alight by stone miners.
Back in the 2000s the area was known for its hubbub nature, as children and women mostly go there to get fresh water. But the reservoir has lately seen a decline in water supply.
“People don’t come often like those days,” JP Panda complained.
Pa Panda now collects pittance as water rates and that borders him most because keeping his home running also means having money on his pocket.
The situation at Mount Aureol is not completely different from hilltops areas. Most of the water catchment environments in Freetown are experiencing a decline as they quickly deteriorate. The demarcated areas in the Western peninsula have been encroached.
The forest reserve hills, overlooking the beaches, for instance, are being sold off to private individuals who build houses on them.
On a recent field trip, made by officials of environment ministry, they said Number Two Beach, Lumley and most parts in the western area have almost been encroached. The water catchments are being badly affected as construction takes place.
Sadly, at Tokeh community, pebbles could be seen gathering afar ready to be used in construction. Whereas tall concrete pillars are mounted up as boundaries.
The previous year saw repeated appearances made by Dr Denis Sandy, former lands minister, in reclaiming some portions of land in the west. But his approach, then, was widely condemned as many Sierra Leoneans accused him of exhibiting acts of injustice.
His move was not seen as a way of protecting the “water catchments,” but simply seen as a ploy to enrich himself thereby attracting bribes from claimers of land. The minister was recently sacked after several complaints made by aggrieved landowners.
His sacking brought solace to landowners, however. And now encroachers are pushing beyond areas marked as “green belt” (non -crossing points at hilltops).
As it stands, as hilltops encroachment becomes a norm, Freetown’s water catchments are at risk of drying up easily. But there are plans on the way to ensuring that demarcated areas are protected from encroachers.
The New Direction government, for example, seems determined to put what officials describe as “gigantic pillars” at demarcated areas, a move to discourage encroachers.
The Ministry of Environment has also expressed firm commitment to protecting most of water sources environments, especially areas already devastated.
“Defaulters who are caught encroaching in those areas would be arrested and taken to the Police station. We have Forest Guards who are monitoring the forest reserves,” Lahai Kpaka, who is the environment information officer, warned.
He admitted that they are aware of the challenges posed to water catchments in Freetown and are ready to rectify the problem. To further protect these areas, Kpaka said, government launched a tree planting initiative last year.
The National Tree Initiative (NTI) saw about 1.2 million (one million two hundred) trees planted across the country.
Highlighting the communities already targeted, he stressed, unlike the Western Area and Western Rural Districts, trees were planted in all the 16 districts in Sierra Leone.
“Those trees would take within 6 months to grow higher,” he assured.
And among the communities listed to have benefitted from NTI’s project are Kuntorloh, Tree Planting, Kerry Town, Six Mile, Congo Cross, Dodo and Kossoh Tong.
NTI’s project, he continues, would target 5 million (five million) tree seeds to be planted.
On the field trip, he admits, the ministry observed that a lot of encroachments occurred on water catchments and some destruction on mangroves. Forestry, marine and sand mining are seriously been affected due to human activities, he added.
Freetown’s reservoirs are at an alarming rate as housing construction goes unabated. In the absence of stricter laws and fines levied on encroachers, the habit of putting up buildings on forested hilltops is becoming a norm.
The consequences of occupying these mountainous environments are very huge. But as the love of money takes over authorities, who should be enforcing laws, squatters take advantage of the situation.
The effect of felling down trees is so devastating to the extent that Guma Dam, Freetown’s only source of water, now couldn’t supply a population of at least 2 million residents as evidenced by taps being locked and children fetching water from cut pipes inside open gutters.
As people fell down more trees without replanting them, the soil losses the water that is already being trapped from rain fall.
“Our campaign is when you cut one tree, plant three more trees,” Kpaka said.
If encroaching on hilltops continues, forest rainfall communities, such as Leicester Peak, Gloucester village and Western Peninsula areas, would soon disappear in the future.
It means the forests, which serve as harvesters of rain, would never function as the thickness, which creates wider spaces between trees, is gone.
However, the mudslide, that hit Regent community close to the Guma Dam, was not unconnected with the deforestation and building occurring there.
That mudslide, which happened in August, 2017, killed thousands of people and left many homeless. But despite that tragic event, a number of houses have recently been built there.
NTI, Kpaka said, promises to reverse the trend.
“Our ministry, together with a civil society organization, would involve entertainers to educate people and raise awareness on the effects of the environment,” he said.
National Council for Civic Development, NaCCED, he added, would work with musicians who would develop songs containing civic messages, notably on issues around environment.
Kpaka told Nightwatch that the ministry had started doing radio and TV talk shows to educate and raise more awareness on environmental disasters.
To ensure effective environmental reporting, he added, the European Union has recently ended a skills training programme with some journalists in Freetown.