Africa 24 news

By Hassan I. Conteh

The year 2023 is on record as the hottest period since in decades’ history all over the world.

This latest report is according to scientists in the world and by London BBC World news.

“2023 was world’s hottest year and 2024 could be worse- scientists have issued warning to UK,” says the BBC.

Sierra Leone is said to be affected greatly by this strange reality – warming earth of 2023.

It’s predicted that the West African country will earlier than expected be short of water supply from the capital’s tiny dam, Guma Valley.

The country’s head of Guma Water Dam had said in a Twitter (now X) that , dry spells will result to low pump of litres of water to service residents of Freetown.  Maada Kpenge, Managing director, Guma Valley Water Company, says there were little spills over on the dam last year.

His shocking revelation, last year first week in October, caused deep worries among people who watched his social media video being released.

He said since the year of 2023 didn’t bring enough rains in the country, it means the Guma dam may run short of water early before mid of the dry season, thereby causing ‘the worst’ water crisis in the city.

There is a likelihood that Freetown is going to face ‘severe water’ situation this new year of 2024 more than other previous years in the country’s history.

It is expected that residents in Freetown and its outskirts will severely be affected by this due to last year’s dry spells.

Usually, at dries especially between March and April, it is common to see school-going children fetching water from narrow water wells being created by people under some rocks on hill-tops.

On the grid of the city, the situation is sometimes very appalling as women, girls, and boys,  in mammoth chaotic scenes, would grope for water-cut- pipes found on some street gutters as they fill up their gallons or jerry cans.

The wet season however often brings smiles to people especially in the capital deprived communities where people would trap the rain using buckets under some rooftops.

People will find it hard by February, March and April to get easy access to water supply from the Guma dam.

For those in the city’s outskirts like Jui, Rokel, Devil Hole, Waterloo, Tombo, etc. signs of worst water crisis have already started showing.

Aminata is a resident in Waterloo who lives at York Road and she was grumbling about a situation of a particular water well which was gradually drying up in their area just last month in December.

Though the manager of Freetown’s Guma Dam had merely talked of the expansion of few dams in the capital’s peninsula to add up to the old one, it is not clear when such dams will be ready for service.

To testify about the little drop of rain in Sierra Leone over last year, some elderly Waterloonians had observed dramatic changes in weather patterns especially in the rainy season.

“We used to have more rains coming by June, July, August; but this year [2023] is a totally different situation altogether. “

“Instead of more rains we experience late rains running up to November,” says a man in the month of November.

His view is shared similarly by other residents in the outskirt of Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown.