Soil Erosion around Foundations of Houses in Four Communities in Ghana

Abstract

Soil erosion studies around houses in four communities in Ghana were carried out from August to November, 2010. Thirty houses were selected from each of the four communities for the study. Measurements of slope and the depth of exposed foundation of houses were done with the help of a string and a tape measure. Data were also obtained through questionnaire and interview of house owners. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to measure some relationships among data. In the selection of site for building a house, higher percentage of the house owners considered no factor. The major cleaning activity around the surrounding of houses was noted to be sweeping with a broom. All the houses in the communities had their foundations exposed, 57% - 93% of the houses had exposed foundations up to a level within 51 - 100 cm which was classified as “Severely Exposed”. The extent of building foundation exposed by soil erosion was found to be positively correlated with the age of building and the slope of the land. Most of the respondents controlled soil erosion by blocking water ways with materials such as, sand heaps, stones and sacks filled with soil. Only 10% of the respondents from one of the communities planted grasses around their houses to control soil erosion. Communities need to be educated to plant grasses around their houses to beautify the surroundings and to control soil erosion.