The illegal mining remains a major threat to River Pra and the Daboase water treatment plant in the Wassa East District, according to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in the Western Region.
This is despite the expiration of the three-week ultimatum from the government for the cessation of illegal mining.
Speaking to , the Communications Manager for Ghana Water Company in-charge of Western and Central Regions, Nana Yaw Barimah Barnie confirmed that illegal mining activities were still ongoing on the River Pra, close to the intake of the treatment plant at Daboase.
“We were there last Thursday, two days after the ultimatum expired. We went there to do some work and we saw some galamsey operators right on the River Pra working quite close to the intake of our treatment plant at Daboase.”
“The minister should try and also divert his attention onto our river bodies. We saw them with their chamfangs working on the river. We could hear them and we could also see them working. It is not the case that the galamsey operators have left the River Pra where our water treatment plant is. They are there as at just last Thursday,” Mr. Barnie lamented.
He further noted that the water coming into the Daboase Treatment Plant from the River Pra, is so polluted that it’s the turbidity level, the measure of the degree to which the water loses its transparency due to the presence of suspended particulates, stands at 1500 Nephelometric Turbidity Units.
Figures from the Ghana Water Company revealed that the Western Region is losing a total of 5.3 millions gallons of water daily due to the increased activities of illegal miners in the Pra River.
This means over half of the company’s customer base of 31,327 are denied portable drinking water on daily basis.
No change in state of affairs
Citi FM’s Western Regional Correspondent, Obrempong Yaw Ampofo visited the Pra River in 2016 after the plant shut down in August and his findings [below] remain similar to the account of the Ghana Water Company, as there appears to have been no improvement in the situation despite the escalated efforts against illegal mining in the past month.
* That illegal miners were busily digging about 20 meters away from the main Daboase Water Treatment Plant intake point.
* That a dyke created with boulders in 2012 to facilitate the collection of water from the Pra River is on the verge of collapse as the miners have dug out its foundation.
* That the water levels have decreased significantly even in the main wet season because the miners have widened the course of the river at the intake point.
* That the inner perimeter of the huge tunnels drawing untreated water from the Pra River are rusty and were being worked on at the time of our visit
* That the water pumping machines at Daboase were not manufactured to draw brown and turbid water but that is what has become the norm.
* That the Ghana Water Company Limited have had to carry out constant maintenance activities to safeguard the three multi-million dollar pumps.
* That the color of the Pra River has reached the yellowish levels of 1,700 when measured, and that more chemicals such as alum and chlorine have had to be imported and applied to reduce it to 5. [Reduce the 1,700 to 5]
* That 50 bags of alum are required to treat the water compared to 5 some 10 years ago.
* That increased chemicals and maintenance cost means consumers would have to pay more as water tariffs
* That 31,723 customers/homes of the company in the western region will have no water when the situation at the dam requires a shutdown.
* That both the Daboase and the Nchaaban headworks are producing below machine capacity due to pollution and low water levels.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
