Amidu Musah

 The cost of water treatment and production has shot up lately due to the impact of ‘galamsey’ activities on Ghana’s water bodies, the Tema Re­gional Chief Manager of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Amidu Musah, has hinted.

According to him, the cost of chem­icals for treating water has gone up because the GWCL is forced to use more expensive and potent chemicals like Polymer instead of Alum to treat the raw water.

This, he said, was as a result of the impact of illegal mining activities around the water bodies.

The activities of these ‘galamseyers’, he noted have become rampant and was of the view that if nothing was done about it, water would soon become a very expensive commodity.

MrMusah made the disclosure last Fri­day in Tema on the observation of World Water Day.

The event was held in Tema by the Tema Regional Office for the GWCL, hav­ing in attendance school children who were schooled on the need to preserve the country’s water bodies.

It was under the theme ‘leveraging water for peace’.

Addressing the participants at the event, MrMusah, admitted that ‘galam­sey’ and sand winning operations have negatively have an impact on freshwater resources.

“The final consumer, which includes you and me as well as our industry, is ultimately affected by the activities of these miners because it has conse­quences on our health and finances,” he disclosed.

According to him, it was important for the respective bodies to come out with pragmatic and collaborative measures, and actions on a variety of fronts to maintain or improve the quality of water from the sources.

“The purpose of World Water Day is to inspire action. We are all now ac­countable for this. On this day, let us all promise to contribute to the solution. Let’s raise awareness on the value of water conservation among ourselves and others,” he said.

The Regional Chief Manager called for support to assist groups devoted to sustainable water management by using the power of collaboration of everyone to help improve the situation.

He also called for a more responsible use of water for both domestic and com­mercial activities and prompt payment of water bills to help the GWCL to con­tinue to serve their clients, noting that life will definitely be more difficult if the public cannot get access to potable water in the home.

Sharing her thoughts about the event, a 16-year-old pupil, Edem Caroline Gor­vina expressed worry about the health and future of Ghanaian children because in her view, there appears to be no end in sight for the destruction of the coun­try’s water bodies through ‘galamsey’ activities.

The young pupil who is the Girls’ Prefect of the Republic Road Junior High School (JHS) said she was convinced that much work has not been done to protect the water bodies in the various commu­nities where ‘galamsey’ is prevalent.

“We must stop them from destroying our water bodies,” she said without mincing words as she expressed fear that the country might soon find itself in a situation where there would not be safe water for the citizenry.

The final year student said it was wor­rying that there was a lot of information on the illegal activities of miners but very little was being done to curb the practice.

“Seriously, I feel we are losing the war on ‘galamsey’, that is, if we have not lost already. It appears we have become helpless and have given up on these peo­ple endangering our future,” she added.

The event brought together pupils from some schools from the Tema Me­tropolis namely the Pentecost School, Mante-Din School and the Republic Road School.

From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Tema