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Today can confirm that a lot of water bodies in gold mining communities in Western, Ashanti, Central and Northern regions have been badly polluted as a result of illicit artisanal small-scale gold mining and illegal mining activities in those areas.

Today gathered that the sources of water in these gold mining areas were contaminated by chemicals used by illegal miners in their gold mining activities, leading to mass diarrhoea attack on residents.

According to information available to Today, illegal gold mining activities which have been the bane of Western, Ashanti and Central regions, have now assumed an alarming proportion as thousands of young people can be seen recently indiscriminately scooping the land along the main road linking the Bogoso-Tarkwa and Wassa Akropong-Ayanfuri in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central region.

Previously, Today gathered that the irresponsible mining activities were concentrated in Tarkwa, Bogoso and Prestea-Hemang in the Western region, but recently they have spread to almost all the northern part of the region in Ghana.

Speaking in an interview with Today during a stakeholder forum in Tema recently, participants noted that residents in those regions were at risk if steps were not taken by state regulatory agencies to address the problem.

According to the participants, the illegal activities, popularly known as ’galamsey,’ has extended to Mpohor, Damang, Akyempim, Teleku Bokazo and between Wassa Akropong and Ayanfuri, while the Pra River, Tano River and the Bonsa River have been polluted.

They mentioned that in Prestea-Hemang activities of illegal gold miners have also contributed to the pollution of river Ankobra.

“The situation is that between Wassa Akropong and Ayanfuri, a large stretch of land at both sides of the road is being degraded at a very fast rate by illegal ’galamsey’ operators in such a way that if nothing is done about the situation soon, that portion of the Tarkwa-Bogoso Ayanfuri road would have to be closed to traffic,” the participants raised an alarm.

They pointed out that a study has shown that very few of the operators have acquired licenses to undertake artisanal small scale mining even though they were aware that their operations were illegal and in conflict with the laws of the country.

According to the participants, the activities of the illegal miners had serious negative impacts on the environment, health and safety of the residents.

They lamented that the indiscriminate scooping of the land had greatly caused land degradation in the affected areas, particularly between Wassa Akropong and Ayanfuri, rendering the whole area including the road virtually flooded at all times.

They stated that water pollution through turgidity and application of chemicals and dust generated were some of the negative impacts on the environment, adding that the blasting of hard rocks and diversion of rivers for alluvial gold mining equally affected the environment.

They lamented that inhaling of chemicals, dust and smoke from “Chinvan” stone crushers, believed to have been supplied by some Chinese and the use of hard drugs by the operators also had health implications.

A resident of Prestea-Himan, Mr. Dominic Nyame, complained bitterly about the alarming situation of the degradation of environment along the Bogoso-Tarkwa and Wassa Akropong Ayanfuri road and called on the Regional Security Councils to carry out an eviction exercise in River Pra and Akonbra to resolve the situation.