The Upper West Regional Hospital’s administration has reassured the public that, contrary to popular belief, the liquid waste that is emitted from the facility is not detrimental to residents.
In addition to stressing that the effluent that flows into the neighborhood complies with the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency’s effluent discharge rules, they reaffirmed that they place a high value on the health and safety of the general population and will not do anything to jeopardize either.
This was stated in a rejoinder that the Medical Director, Dr. Robert Amesiya signed and disseminated to media outlets regarding a home radio report on residents’ concerns about what they termed as the indiscriminate dumping of mortuary effluent that could impact their health.
Home radio reports prompted the management, per the statement, to get in touch with a sewage treatment plant consultant to explain to the general public why the liquid waste the facility produces is safe.
According to the statement, mixed liquid waste from washrooms, theaters, staff bungalows, and morgue is transported to the sewage treatment plant, which is a fully biological system that produces biogas that can be used for a variety of purposes, including cooking, running corn mills, running cars, or running generator sets to generate electricity.
They claimed that the final effluent released into the environment is nutrient-rich and suitable for use as fertilizer to increase crop yields.
The statement said this technology has been in use for many years and is one of the sustainable ones that are being encouraged for use in the global production of renewable energy while pointing out that It can be used to treat waste from homes, schools, agro-processing businesses, slaughterhouses, cattle ranches, poultry farms, and hospitals.
According to the statement, although the effluent is being treated later on in a different procedure, the biogas created by the sewage treatment plant is kept and used in the kitchen to supplement the LPG.
It further explained that samples have been sent to the Ghana Water Company Limited laboratory to assess compliance after the news report and should the reports show that the sewage treatment plant is not adhering to the regulations governing effluent discharge, management will take action to correct the problem.
