VOLTA LAKE

Location               west east

Coordinates       6°30′N 0°0′ECoordinates: 6°30′N 0°0′E

Lake type            Reservoir

Primary inflows White Volta River

Black Volta River

Primary outflows             Volta River

Catchment area                385,180 km2 148,720 sq mi

Basin countries Ghana

Surface area       8,502 km2 3,283 sq mi

Average depth  18.8 m 62 ft

Max. depth        75 m 246 ft

Water volume   148 km3 32.6 × 1012 gallons

Shore length1    4,800 kilometres 2,980 mi

Surface elevation

85 m 279 ft

                                                       

Lake Volta lies along the Greenwich Meridian, and just six degrees of latitude north of the Equator. The lake's northmost point is close to the town of Yapei, and its southmost extreme is at the Akosombo Dam, 520 kilometers  320 mi downstream from Yapei. Akosombo Dam holds back both the White Volta River and the Black Volta River, which formerly converged, where the middle of the reservoir now lies, to form the single Volta River. The present Volta River flows from the outlets of the dam's powerhouse and spillways to the Atlantic Ocean in southmost Ghana.

The main islands within the lake are Dodi, Dwarf and Kporve. Digya National Park lies on part of the lake's west shore.

The lake is formed by the Akosombo Dam, which was originally conceived by the geologist Albert Ernest Kitson in 1915, but whose construction only began in 1961 with completion in 1965. Because of the formation of Lake Volta, about 78,000 people were relocated to new towns and villages, along with 200,000 animals belonging to them. About 120 buildings were destroyed, not including small residences, as over 3,000 square miles 7,800 km2 of territory was flooded.

The Akosombo Dam provides electricity for much of the country, as well as for export to Togo, Benin, and nearby countries, to earn foreign exchange value. Lake Volta is also important for transportation providing a waterway for both ferries and cargo watercraft. Since the huge lake lies in a tropical area, the water remains warm year-round naturally. Given good management, Lake Volta is the location of a vast population of fish and large fisheries.

The lake also attracts tourism, and tourist cruises visit the island of Dodi.

Recent developments include a large-scale enterprise to harvest submerged timber from the flooded forests under Lake Volta. This project harvests high-value tropical hardwood without requiring additional logging or destruction of existing forest and, according to Wayne Dunn, "could generate the largest source of environmentally sustainable natural tropical hardwood in the world." The Ghanaian-owned company Underwater Forest Resources has committed itself to making said lumber available in the global market, while Flooring Solutions Ghana have become the suppliers of hardwood floors, using the rare wood from the Lake.citation needed In addition to generating foreign currency for the region and reducing the dependence of locals on fishing as a primary economic activity, the removal of submerged trees is improving navigation on the lake and increasing safety.