The World Bank has released 120,000 dollars to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the setting up of a Cleaner Production Plant Centre (CPPC) in Tema to process waste materials.

The proposed plant would be sited at community 22 to enhance waste avoidance, recycle, reduce, and trade waste, Mr Lambert Faabeluon, Senior Programme Officer (SPO) of the EPA stated on Wednesday. He was presenting a paper on the "Status Quo of the Chemu Lagoon" at a seminar on "Industry and Sustainable Environmental Practices", organised by the Corporate Social Responsibility Movement (CSRM) a non-governmental organisation and the Fredrich Ebert Stiftung.

He said the project had become necessary in view of the alarming rate at which water bodies were being polluted and environment degraded with impunity.

Mr Faabeluon expressed regret that human activities have rendered the Chemu Lagoon almost dead and called for its immediate revival to enable it to serve the rightful purpose.

The lagoon has been the main source of livelihood for the indigenes of Tema, now settled at Tema Manhean. It also served as a recreational centre. Mr Faabeluon said sediments in the lagoon, which has a catchment area of 2,600 hectares with a very limited upstream supply of freshwater, were contaminated with high concentrations of organic matter with a widespread indication of oil.

According to the Environmental Expert, the adjacent land areas are extensively filled with waste and garbage, posing a major threat to immediate residents of the area. Mr Faabeluon said the lagoon was contaminated with 60 percent of domestic waste, which under normal circumstance should have entered the sewer system while the Industries also discharge 40 percent of their effluent into it.

He said some of the industries had responded favourably to the call to treat their effluent before discharging into the lagoon but the domestic waste still posed a threat and needed immediate solution.

He called for immediate rehabilitation of all broken down sewer systems to prevent further loading of the lagoon, while the courts must institute stiffer punishments to polluters. Mr Faabeluon called for concerted efforts by civic society and environmental NGOs to compel corporate bodies to respect and conform to the national regulations on the environment.

Mr Maxwell Opoku Agyemang, Legal Advisor of the Water Resource Commission (WRC), who spoke on "The importance of water bodies for fresh water, the Chemu Lagoon perspective," called for judicious use of water in order to have a reserve for future generations. He said in less than 10 years, the demand for water would be more than the supply since only three percent of the world's water is accessible to people.