The Korle Lagoon is a body of water in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

, the capital of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. Lying immediately to the west of the city centre, it has played an important role in the city's history. In the 1990s, it became known for its high levels of pollution.

History

Local tradition states that the first settlement in the area was established by the Onamorokor We hunters, on the east bank of the lagoon. The lagoon was believed to be inhabited by a spirit, who used its powers to enchant a woman named Dede, and used her to convince the group to settle in the location, in order to worship the spirit. The land became the property of the Korle We, and it was a matter of dispute whether this was the same group as the Onamorokor We. The settlement grew into Jamestown, now the western part of the city centre, and was an important source of fish until the 1950s.

Post-history

In 1961, the

Government of Ghana The Government of Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy, followed by alternating military and civilian governments in Ghana. In January 1993, military government gave way to the Fourth Republic after presidential and parliamentary electi ...

assumed ownership of the lagoon. It dredged the water body and raised the level of some nearby land, to reduce the risk of flooding, then established industries on surrounding drained and reclaimed land—initially brewing and food processing, later car repairs and then electronic scrap processing at

Agbogbloshie Agbogbloshie is a nickname of a commercial district on the Korle Lagoon of the Odaw River, near the center of Accra, Ghana's capital city in the Greater Accra region. Near the slum called "Old Fadama", the Agbogbloshie site became known as a de ...

. The lagoon links to the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...

. It was fed by the Odaw River, which flows through the suburbs of Accra, its catchment area covering 60% of the city. The most important destination of stormwater runoff, the river also became highly polluted with waste, which was discharged into the lagoon. The combination of waste from the Odaw River and industries and settlements on the shores of the lagoon led, by 2002, to it being described as "one of the most polluted water bodies on earth". At times of heavy rainfall, it was also flooding nearby areas. In the 1990s, the government established the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project, aiming to restore the lagoon to a more natural state, reduce pollution, and increase water flow through it. Around this time, the unplanned settlement of

Old Fadama Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

was established on the banks of the lagoon, its population peaking at around 30,000. The government announced its intention to clear the area, which it believed was a source of pollution, but following protests, this did not take place. In 2007, Odaw River was diverted, its outflow now desilted, then passed directly into the gulf, through a kilometre-long outfall.

References

{{coord, 5.5344, -0.2196, format=dms, type:waterbody_region:GH, display=title Accra Lagoons of Ghana