Finalising Obed’s fieldwork in Dodowa

By:  Obed Minkah

Final fieldwork activities in Dodowa included the establishment of monitoring network which consist of 40 wells to monitor groundwater fluctuation and to help us determine the groundwater flow direction. In order to know the groundwater flow direction, the monitoring wells were levelled to each other using a total station. It was daunting task to level wells scattered on about a 13.5kmsq area but the task was done within 3 days with support from my colleagues (Isaac and Eric) from The Hydrological Services Department. The water levels of these wells were also measured weekly to know the groundwater levels change over time and from the monitoring it was observed that water levels in the wells were decreasing gradually over the course of fieldwork.

Obed working during the levelling of the monitoring wells

Finally, I had to say goodbye to Dr. Lutterodt and Somed and spent two days with my family before leaving Ghana for Netherlands with all my soil and water samples. The anxiety of the samples not reaching the Netherlands due to immigration checks heightened as my flight got close to the shores of Netherlands. For once in my life I felt like someone possessing illegal content and realised how difficult life would have been if those soils and water samples were illegal, but of course they were not. The samples were then transferred into the fridges of the UNESCO-IHE labs and analysis of the samples started a few days after.

It felt nice to be back at UNESCO-IHE seeing friends from all over the world once again. Work has been on-going since deadline of thesis submission is approaching. The thesis will seek to combine data from geology, hydrogeology and hydrochemistry to come out with a groundwater flow systems analysis of the Dodowa area. I hope to contribute to knowledge and development of my country through the experience and skills acquired in the field and at UNESCO-IHE.

Action photo: measuring the EC of the Dodowa river

 

Me and my colleagues asking a resident about the source of Dodowa river