Fighting River Pollution in Ghana

Ghana as a country has depended largely on natural sources of water for its survival over the years until recent times about a decade or two ago when pipe borne water become quite popular especially in the urban areas. Even that, most of the water treatment plants take their source of water from the major rivers surrounding us such as the river Pra, river Oti, river Densu, river Ankobra and river Volta. However, most of these rivers are now not safe for human use due to excessive pollution and pollutants find in them.

Pollution is the presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance which has harmful or poisonous effects. The material or substance that is harmful or causes the pollution is referred to as the pollutant.

One may ask, is there the need to fight river pollution?

The Ghana Water Company Limited {GWCL} for a decade now has been creating public awareness of the increasing amount of the pollutants found in our rivers, how dangerous they are to us as a nation in general and cautioning us against the implications it could have on us if rapid preventive measures are not put in place to curb it. It is also to the public notice that the volumes of water GWCL is able to supply daily has reduced drastically due to the high volume of pollutants and the quantity of inputs it requires to process it for distribution. The company is said to be spending 60% to over 100% more of inputs at some treatment plants to treat some volume of water it was supplying few years back.

Global Water Project {GWP} is also cautioning as they predict global water shortage in twenty years to come. This is a more reason why we should protect our rivers and water bodies in general.

What is polluting our rivers then and how do we fight them?

In a recent trip to Bogoso in the Western region, I crossed the river Pra at a point and to my surprise, the whole water was brownish in colour so I asked what happened to cause a change in colour of a big river like that and was told it is caused by the pollutants from {illegal mining} galamsey operations. I was further educated that with exception to river Volta, all the other major rivers in Ghana have suffered the same faith making them unsafe for human use as source of drinking water and domestic use. This you can see clearly even without any lab examination or expect advice.

I therefore visited the Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis {CEIE} and the president of the organization Mr Samuel Obiri confirmed how galamsey and surface mining operations has had adverse impact on our environment. This they do by the use of a gadget call ‘Chan fine’ which they put at the bed of the river and use it to wash the gold imbedded rock with addition of other toxic substances such as mercury, cyanide and nitric acid. This toxic substances or chemicals released into the river are dangerous to human health or live and other living aquatic creatures in the rivers.

Toxic substance is any chemical substance that causes danger to health. However the degree of danger depends on the dosage. These substances when used get into our body through three main ways: ingestion, dermal contact and inhalation but in relation to water and it happens through the first two mentioned. Ingestion happens when we drink direct river water polluted with this substances or cook with it, they go directly into the blood stream to fight the body. Dermal contact is when the skin pores or an injury on the body come into contact with such toxic substances. These toxics infect us with cancer of the skin and lungs.

It is a fact therefore that fighting river pollution in Ghana is fighting galamsey operation and surface mining. According to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ghana Mines Commission in a recent dialog with stakeholders stated that, Ghana does not need any Parliamentary enactments any longer to fight this menace because all the rules and laws needed to fight illegal mining already exist in the mines act and other regulatory bodies enactments and so all that is required is to empower the necessary bodies to apply the law and punish severely with culprits. However, the law enforcement services like the police, military, and various taskforce put in place in relation to illegal mining must team up and work hand in hand with the local assembly, traditional rules, mines commission and other regulatory bodies to fight this canker. Government must stop playing politics of votes with galamsey communities and support the fight by providing the necessary amenities and authoritative backing needed to kick galamsey out and protect our rivers and water bodies.