Unregulated mining activities are affecting the quality of water, particularly water in the White Volta Basin. This is according to the Water Resources Commission.
The Commission explained that unlike in the south of Ghana where a lot of the mining is done on the surface, mineral deposits in northern Ghana, specifically in the White Volta Basin, “are underground. It is below a certain depth. What we have realized is that most of this mineralization intersects our underground water.”
“Where we find our underground water, the miners are able to create shafts and get to that level. That is where there are cracks for water to move the minerals for it to accumulate.”
When the Head of the White Volta Basin, Jesse Kazapoe, spoke to A1 Radio’s Mark Smith on the Day Break Upper East Show recently, he mentioned that the situation presents quite a challenge.
“Recently, I went to Sheaga and the other mining communities in the Talensi area, and I was having a conversation with the miners. I asked them, ‘How many people work around here?’ They said they were over one thousand. So I asked, ‘How many can you have underground at a time?’ They were mentioning figures around 400, 500 at a time. I asked, ‘How long do you stay?’ They said most of them don’t even come up within 24 hours. I asked, ‘How do you relieve yourself?’ They relieve themselves underground. When they are going, they carry sachet water, food in plastic bags, and such, and when they are coming back, they don’t return with these things.”
Mr. Kazapoe said while residents in other communities or areas may be guided by the use of the water and how to keep it free from contamination, the activities of these miners could render all their efforts useless.
“You are taking care of your environment and water, and yet your people are falling sick, and you don’t understand, someone else is causing the problem,” he explained.
To deal with the situation, the Water Resources Commission has intensified education among miners. Additionally, the stakeholders within the mining sector are testing the use of safe forms of chemicals for the extraction of mineral ores from water to help stop the use of cyanide and mercury.
Source: A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Bolgatanga|
