Ghanaians rightly expect that the water flowing from their taps is safe for drinking. Yet, a recent study has revealed a silent but growing threat lurking in our most trusted water sources.
Joseph Nana Gyesi from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has found pharmaceutical residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the Owabi and Barekese dams, the two major reservoirs that collectively supply over 90% of the potable water for Kumasi and large parts of the Ashanti Region.
Key Findings
According to Gyesi, trace concentrations of widely used pharmaceuticals, including paracetamol, amoxicillin, chloramphenicol, metronidazole, and diclofenac, are found in both the water and sediment of the dams.
Diclofenac, a common anti-inflammatory painkiller, was detected at concentrations as high as 107.87 micrograms per litre (μg/L), significantly higher than levels typically reported in drinking water sources elsewhere in the world.
Other detected compounds, including the antibiotics amoxicillin and metronidazole, raise concerns due to their potential role in the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Alarmingly, bacteria isolated from both the water and sediment samples exhibited resistance to multiple classes of antibiotics.
Pathogenic strains such as Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, and Enterobacter showed complete resistance to all nine antibiotics tested.
This includes resistance to widely used drugs such as ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, and ampicillin in Ghana.
A Public Health Wake-Up Call
The presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in public water systems is not only a scientific concern but also a direct public health threat. Prolonged exposure to trace pharmaceuticals and resistant organisms through drinking water, food preparation, and bathing may increase the risk of drug-resistant infections, disrupt human hormonal and immune systems, and compromise the effectiveness of common medical treatments.
Standard water treatment processes in Ghana are not equipped to remove pharmaceutical contaminants or resistance genes.
This means these substances could remain present even after water is treated and distributed to homes, schools, and hospitals.
How Are These Contaminants Getting into Our Water?
The study links the contamination partly to our daily disposal habits. A household survey conducted alongside the water quality analysis found that 79% of residents living near the dams dispose of unused or expired medications improperly, most commonly by trashing them with household waste.
Once in landfills or open drains, these pharmaceuticals leach into water bodies, especially during heavy rains.
Over time, their accumulation in sediments and aquatic ecosystems can have long-lasting effects.
This is not a distant or isolated issue. The Owabi and Barekese reservoirs are not tucked away in remote forests; they serve millions of Ghanaians daily.
Some sachet and bottled water producers also draw from these reservoirs, further broadening the potential exposure.
What Can Be Done?
This issue is not unique to Ghana, but our national response must be urgent and deliberate. The research team offers several key recommendations:
1. Implement a National Drug Take-Back Programme: Such a programme would allow individuals to return expired or unused medicines to pharmacies or designated facilities for safe disposal, a practice adopted in many developed countries.
2. Launch Nationwide Public Education Campaigns: Most Ghanaians are unaware of the environmental and health implications of pharmaceutical waste. Education efforts through churches, schools, media, and community health programs can raise awareness and influence behavior.
3. Upgrade Water Treatment Infrastructure: Water treatment systems should be enhanced to include advanced filtration and chemical removal technologies that can target pharmaceutical compounds and resistant microbes.
4. Strengthen Monitoring and Regulation: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and allied institutions must enforce stricter controls around pharmaceutical disposal, especially near water sources. Routine testing of surface and treated water should be standardized nationwide.
Conclusion: A Call for Leadership and Action
Water is life, but only when it is clean and safe. This highlights an emerging public health issue that demands proactive leadership from government agencies, water utilities, health professionals, and every Ghanaian household.
Pharmaceuticals are meant to heal, not to pollute. Unless we change how we dispose of them, the same drugs that save lives today may become the very substances that endanger them tomorrow.
Let this be the wake-up call we cannot afford to ignore.
I acknowledge the immense contributions of all my co-authors: Bismark Anabila Nyaaba, Godfred Darko, Felix Charles Mills-Robertson, Nana Aboagye Acheampong, Kodwo Miezah, Grace Gyimah, Bridget Quansah and Lawrence Sheringham Borquaye.
Their efforts in environmental sampling, laboratory analysis, microbial studies, and public survey collection were instrumental in uncovering the findings discussed here.
I am grateful for their expertise and dedication to advancing environmental health research in Ghana.
The writer is a Research Assistant at Wayne State University, United States.
