The Ghana Water Limited (GWL) in the Central Region has cut its production by 30 percent at the Sekyerehemang Headworks as a result of galamsey activities along the banks of the River Pra.
According to the water company, although some communities within the region will be affected by the move, it is ready to augment its production with supplies from the Bremsu Headworks.
Eric Seth Atiapah, the Chief Manager of the water distribution company, speaking to the media after embarking on dredging and desilting of the Pra River, said they are ready to embark on a sensitization of communities along the banks on the effect of galamsey activities to their operations.
“Most of the time, some of the things we consider is the colour and the turbidity and so this plant was designed with a turbidity of about 500 MTU and last week, we had about 7,500 MTU so you can see that this is water that cannot be treated. Now we have to use very potent chemicals at exorbitant prices compared to the conventional alum that we use.
“Because of the nature of the water, we have cut production by 30 percent so that we can have time to treat the very poor water that we have.
“Galamsey is a national problem and the government is fighting so hard to curb it and we are also doing our best by engaging the communities to get the galamseyers off our intake point.”