By Francis Ntow/ Eric Appah Marfo, GNA
Accra, Nov 12, GNA – The United States and scientific experts have made an urgent call for a crackdown on illegal small-scale gold mining, otherwise known as galamsey, as mercury-driven pollution has already degraded 60 per cent of Ghana’s freshwater sources.
The call, they said, was to save the country’s rivers before the damage became irreversible and address the threat it posed to public health, including causing harm to the developing brains, heart tissue, and other reproductive effects for pregnant mothers and their babies.
The call came during the Ambassador’s Water Experts Programme (AWEP) symposium, on the theme: “Addressing Mercury Pollution: Collaborative Solutions for Sustainable Mining in Ghana,” held in Accra on Tuesday.
It was organised on behalf of the Regional Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Hub for West and Central Africa by the U.S. Embassy, uniting government, academia, civil society, development partners, and the private sector to reduce mercury and promote sustainable mining in Ghana.
A 2024 baseline assessment by the US Geological Survey in the Western Region found total mercury in unfiltered water from the Ankobra and Pra rivers was more than 55 times higher than the US average, while river sediments were two to 25 times higher.
Again, contamination of the Birim River, where turbidity linked to mining pollution reportedly reached 63 million Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) against a maximum treatable level of 200 NTU, leaving a community water treatment plant unable to function.
Citing figures by the Water Resources Commission of Ghana, Sarah Cobb of the US Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), noted that an estimated 60 per cent of the country’s freshwater sources faced degradation.
She attributed the scale of destruction largely to illegal small-scale gold mining and the indiscriminate use of mercury to extract gold, adding that those sediments did not stay at the mine site.
“It moves through rivers and into sediment, builds up in fish, and reaches farm products and drinking water. Mercury pollution damages public health, food security, and economic opportunity,” she said.
She backed Ghana’s efforts, including its five-step anti-galamsey plan and the Minerals Commission’s drone-equipped command centre, as foundations for turning commitment into lasting results.
Ms Cobbs urged that government enforced the law and fund restoration, industry adopted clean technologies, with scientists turning data into decisions, while development partners provided sustained support.
Mr Rolf Olson, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy, reiterated that mercury-led illegal mining did not only threaten river ecosystems, but drinking water supplies, agricultural products, and the health of communities that depend on those waters.
He said protecting Ghana’s waters would safeguard food security, economic resilience, self-sustaining health systems, and long-term prosperity, while creating commercial opportunities for American mercury-free mining and water treatment technologies.
Mr Olson said the US stood ready to support Ghana as it combats the destructive and illegal practice, saying: “Together we can advance responsible mining, protect Ghana’s fresh- water resources, and build a healthier and more prosperous future.”
In a speech read on his behalf, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), said addressing mercury pollution demanded scientific research, technological innovation, effective governance, community participation and international cooperation.
She said Ghana, as a party to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, was committed to reducing and, where feasible, eliminating mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, through investment in mercury-free extraction technologies that protected both the environment and mining livelihoods.
“Ghana’s rivers must remain sources of life, not carriers of pollution, and the gold beneath its soil must not come at the expense of the water that sustains its people,” the sector minister said.
At the forum, stakeholders called for education, awareness, meaningful participation in environmental decision-making and sustainable alternative livelihoods was made, while ensuring that the protection of rivers did not destroy the economic hopes of mining-dependent families.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe