Let’s save our water bodies from galamsey

The shutting down of the Osino Water Treatment Plant brings to four the number of treatment plants that have been shut down in recent times in the Eastern Region alone because a water source of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has become too polluted.

What makes the situation precarious is that the Eastern Region has four water treatment plants, which means that all of them have been adversely affected by pollution.

The first to experience that fate was the Anyinam Treatment Plant, which was shut down three years ago and remains shut today as a result of pollution through illegal mining.

The Kyebi Water Treatment Plant was also shut down last year for about a month due to excessive pollution, also because of the activities of illegal mining which made water treatment impossible.

A year down the line after the introduction of Operation Vanguard by the government to clamp down on illegal mining, often referred to as ‘galamsey’, we are witnessing the closure of another water treatment plant in the same region, the Osino plant.

The fourth treatment plant at Bunso has not been left out, and apart from its shutdown together with the Osino plant just last month, it has experienced several shutdowns in the past years.

This only goes to show that the fight against ‘galamsey’ is far from over and every citizen needs to join it to protect and preserve what is left of our water bodies.

Already the people of Osino and its environs are losing out on the 30,000 gallons of potable water they would have enjoyed from the plant daily had it been functioning.

They now have to make do with water from wells, rivers and streams, since an attempt by the GWCL to drill and mechanise two boreholes for them has not been successful.

All the water plants in the Eastern Region feed on the Birim River, hence their shutdown when the water becomes so turbid and polluted to be treated for drinking.

To experience drastic improvement in the water quality to permit the opening of the Osino plant by the GWCL, there is the need to sustain the momentum in the fight against galamsey.

As admitted by the GWCL, the ban on small-scale mining in the area helped in the resumption of operations of the Osino plant, which had been shut for two years before the clampdown on mining activities in the riverbed commenced.

The GWCL’s belief that the illegal miners may be working in the night, which may have caused the water levels to deteriorate, should inform citizens’ action to stem the tide, else we may wake up one day and not have any water to drink.

The Daily Graphic urges not only the people of the Eastern Region but also all Ghanaians to rise up to the clarion call to help save our water bodies from further pollution by reporting any nefarious activities by illegal miners, be they community or family members.

That is the only way we can ensure our continued existence as a people because, as they say: Water is life.

We will also be saving the GWCL from spending so much to treat polluted water and damaging its equipment, especially the pumps, and permanently damaging its plants as a result of the pollutants.