Joe Okyere and Shirley Asiedu-Addo report from Cape Coast that water bodies in the Central Region have had their fair share of heavy pollution as a result of the activities of illegal miners.
Until recently when they extended their operations along the banks and the valleys of the Offin and the Pra rivers, small streams and rivulets which served as the major sources of drinking water for communities, the impact was not on a large scale.
Diversions of streams and rivers by the miners, who usually use mercury to extract the ore, have posed serious environmental challenges to the people in their areas of operations.
A visit to Sekyere-Hemang, where the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has an in-take and treatment plant, revealed that apart from operating in the Pra River bed and polluting the river, the galamsey operators have also caused damage to one of the filters at the in-take point.
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