Mr. Ben Ampomah, Executive Secretary of the Commission at a workshop in Ho, said the polluted water bodies were mostly in the south-western parts of the country, where illegal mining activities (galamsey) were widespread.

[contextly_sidebar id=”vbJt7AE0hju0cGf1WXUSEH6iqANabyB8″]He was addressing a consultative workshop on “Dam safety regulation and Buffer Zone policy” which attracted Coordinating Directors from District Assemblies and other stakeholders in the Region.

Mr. Ampomah said apart from illegal mining, industrial waste, household disposals and farming, were the major causes of water pollution in the country, and thus charged traditional and local government authorities to help protect water bodies.

He commended the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for the campaign against illegal mining and called for a concerted effort to sustain the campaign to improve the quality of water bodies in those areas.

Mr Ampomah said water bodies in the Volta Region were fairly good, but urged the Assemblies to protect buffer zones and desist from rezoning them for fuel stations.

“We must know that there is no waste land. Wetlands and buffer zones are well-designated areas. They protect river banks, prevent floods and help improve the quality of rivers and streams. Our Assemblies must therefore incorporate buffer zones into local land use plans,” he stated.

Mr Ampomah, therefore encouraged them, (Assemblies) to demolish structures located on waterways and buffer zones to prevent perennial floods with their related health challenges.

He was hopeful that the Buffer Zone Legislative Instrument and the Legislative Instrument on Dam Safety would help protect water bodies and regulate activities of dam owners and operators.

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Source: GNA

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Water treatment plants are being shut down one after the other almost every time, due to pollution, largely by the activities of illegal gold miners.

The Head of Communications at the Ghana Water Company, Steve Mantey on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday,  gave an overview of water bodies in the some regions that have been polluted by illegal mining activities.

Western Region

In the Western Region, the main water bodies that have been polluted include the River Pra, Daboase,and River Ankobra.

Eastern Region

The main water body in the Eastern Region that has been polluted is Birim.

Plants in Kyebi , which were meant for water treatment had to be shutdown due to pollution of the Birim river which is beyond treatment.

Giving a vivid description of the state of the Birim River, Mr. Mantey said  “We have an old treatment plant in Kyebi which is not automated. Unfortunately the cause of the Birim is diverted and totally destroyed such that we cannot even see the waterway so you can imagine the state of the Birim now.”

This challenge has compelled the Ghana Water Company to construct a borehole which will serve small communities.

But according to Mr. Mantey, the  greater percentage of the population still do not have access to water.

The problem extends to the Koforidua and new Juaben communities, where water bodies around that community have been polluted as a result of fishing activities.

“Formerly we were using very minimal levels of chemicals in treating water from the Volta River but the chemical usage is decreasing gradually which means that pollution is gradually getting higher.”

Greater Accra

In the Greater Accra Region,  the Densu River which extracts water specifically for Western Accra and situated around the Weija dam is polluted as a result of farming activities and industrial waste.

The Ghana Water Company has resorted to using chemicals to address this problem.

“Immediately it [waste] is dumped, the pollution is intense so we have had to use a lot of chemicals in our Weija treatment plant to treat water,” Mr. Mantey explained.

Upper West Region

In the Upper West Region, the Black Volta is also polluted, forcing the Ghana Water Company to get a new water treatment plant to produce safe drinking water.

“In the Upper West Region, we have a new treatment plant that will supply water to the Wa Municipality. The Black Volta is also currently disturbed as a result of galamsey operation. We have a new treatment plant and we are about test running the treatment plant,” Mr .Mantey said.

Ashanti Region

The Ashanti Region is battling with the same problem.

According to Mr. Mantey, the Enu River in the Ashanti Region which serves residents at Konogo is polluted due to galamsey activities.

He said the Ghana Water Company in a bid to address this problem “did some work in the area and it is yielding results.”

Mr. Mantey however commended the chiefs in Bari Kese, another community in the Ashanti Region, who in his view are “protecting the water bodies in the area.”

Northern Region

While galamsey activities are polluting water bodies in other regions, the basic activity polluting water bodies in the Northern Region is sand winning.

According to Mr. Mantey,  in the Nawuni River, situated at the Northern Region, “people are winning sand which is changing the colour of the river.”

Brong Ahafo Region

The situation is even worse in the Brong Ahafo Region, where residents have, according to Mr. Mantey, blocked the “course of the river at certain intervals such that the water is unable to flow into some areas.”

This situation is particularly rife in Sunyani.

“Recently we all heard of the lack of water in Sunyani. It was not as a result of equipment but it was as a result of farming activities. They had blocked  the river course to irrigate their farms.”

Central Region

Mr. Mantey revealed that in the Central Region, some water bodies specifically at Cape Coast have been polluted as a result of galamsey activities.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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According to the Director for Natural Resources at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),  Carl Fiati, if government does not curb illegal mining, Ghana may soon lose all of its water bodies.

“We anticipated this problem long time ago that it’s going to come a time when we continue the way we are going as a country, we are going to destroy all our water bodies and import water for drinking,” Mr. Fiati added.

[contextly_sidebar id=”myrf2lXbUmVtEDHlw9BsOpaxmzfGK0SJ”]The EPA director made the claim on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday following reports of closure of the Abessim water treatment plant in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

The Ghana Water Company has said the plant had to be shut down because of the reduction in water levels in the Tano River caused by illegal mining.

The Kyebi Water Treatment plant was also shut down in August 2016 because the water had been rendered untreatable by galamsey.

The galamsey menace continues to serve as a threat to water bodies, aquatic life and agriculture in the country, however several efforts by government including setting up an inter-ministerial taskforce in the previous administration proved futile.

Mr. Fiati explained that the galamsey problem is a very complex one and government must thus “develop a national will to address it.”

No national will in solving galamsey

“It is not a problem EPA alone can solve. The mandate of the EPA is to co-manage the environment so we do it in partnership with all the other sectors. But when it comes to galamsey, it looks like there is no national will to deal with it. We appear to value the gold more than the water we drink and the land on which we farm and our forest. So we have allowed people to go freely and degrade.”

Mr. Fiati observed that in other countries mining areas are blocked “and people only go in when government opens up an area for mining.”

“In this country people can go anywhere and start mining. I am personally unhappy with the situation, I think government must change its way of doing things—get mines closed…so that mining can be properly regulated. That is what is done elsewhere, nobody jumps anywhere and mine it is illegal so if somebody is doing illegal mining he should be arrested and prosecuted,” he added.

When asked how the dangerous effects of galamsey could be resolved, Mr. Fiati said the only way is to arrest, prosecute and jail illegal miners to serve as deterrent to others.

“EPA has specific procedures and processes to ensure that our registered mining entities do their mining activities in an environmentally friendly way. So those that are known to us and are registered with us we regulate, but there are several more people who have gone into mining without the requisite permit so as to do the mining the right way and these people are the illegal or galamsey mining. These people are scattered all over. EPA alone cannot deal with these people. This people are armed, EPA is not armed so we’d need the security agencies, the Ministry of Lands and Forestry, minerals commission and other to work together.”

“EPA cannot bypass these processes and procedures and pretend we are regulating galamsey. We have to make people realize that galamsey is illegal and punishable. And the way to do it is to arrest, prosecute an if possible jail those who do galamsey because the effect of galamsey on the population and the future of this country is far reaching, we cannot compromise with it,” he added.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana may soon import water over galamsey – EPA appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.