Ghana Water Company makes gains on galamsey ban

The Ghana Water Company says it has started recording low turbidity level of raw water at its treatement headworks at Daboase in the Western Region. Western Regional Communication Officer of the Company, Nana Barima Barnie, said the water colour which was at 300HU about five months ago, now ranges between 1,800HU and 2,000HU. For the turbidity level, he said the current figure is 850 NTU as against 1,500 NTU months ago. Speaking to Takoradi-based Connect FM on Wednesday, Mr. Barnie attributed the change in the figures to the current ban on illegal gold mining in the country, popularly known as galamsey. Prior to the recent vigorous campaign, the Company accused galamsey operators of polluting its sources of raw water, which it said had affected their production cost due to high cost of treatment. The Pra River which serves as raw water for Daboase headworks for instance looked dark brown and muddy. In January this year, the Daboase headwork embarked on dredging activity at its intake point in the Pra River. Officials indicated about GHC 50,000 was spent on the dredging due to the level of pollution arising out of the activities of galamsey. Mr. Barnie intimated that should government continue to adhere to the ban on galamsey, GWCL will soon record high improvement in the water colour and the turbidity levels, adding that it will result in to low production cost He therefore urged the government not to lose its stance but insist on a strict ban on all galamsey activities. By Loveridge Ampratwum Okyere|editors.3news.com|Ghana