A Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Jonny Osei Kofi, has called for stakeholder engagement to end illegal mining which has been a bane to water sources in the country.

He said chiefs, small-scale miners, gamalsey operators, researchers, and various Ministries like the Interior, Mines and Forestry, Local Government, Communications, Health, among others, should plan towards how to stop water pollution and save “our water bodies”.

“The water pollution level is now grave. We are beyond a crisis situation in this nation and we do not have the time to wait any longer”, Mr Osei Kofi said at a day’s seminar in Accra.

The Centre for Scientific and Industry Research (CSIR) held the seminar dubbed: “Our Water, Our Life: Ghana’s Water Resources in Crisis”, to discuss the current situation of water bodies and its effect on Ghanaians.

Researchers at CSIR say naturally, there seems to be much water available for such uses as drinking and households use, irrigation, poultry and livestock rearing, fisheries and aquaculture, mines and industries and hydropower generation.

However, there is economic scarcity of water due to pollution and insufficient investment in infrastructure to produce or make more water available for different uses.

Dr Osmund Ansa-Asare, Deputy Director of CSRI- Water Resource Institute (WRI), announced that a water quality monitoring and assessment of the major rivers of Ghana from 2013 to date have shown fluctuations in water quality.

He said there was a general decreasing trend of water quality in the country.

“The quality of our water bodies are declining at a rate that if nothing is done by Water Research Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, Minerals Commission and all stakeholders in the water sector, we will queue for drinking water in the very near future”, he said.

Giving his thoughts on the water situation in country, Mr Osei Kofi said as a Scientist, he understood how critical the situation was and the need for all to think through what needed to be done.

He said government on its part, also see the issues as very important and that was why he was representing government at the seminar, to listen first to the researchers and academia, and then to invite the various stakeholders to the seat of government to plan about the water situation that would bring out a “doable roadmap to address the issues.

The Deputy Chief of Staff said by the close of the year, there should be a plan designed by the various stakeholders, which would involve educating the people, especially, the illegal miners on the danger of polluting river bodies with their activities, among others.

“The situation of stopping galamsey activities involves a lot of people and lots of issues, we need therefore to plan it well and engage all those at stake, explain the issues to them and change their attitudes. We then will have to reclaim the land and river bodies and find alternative jobs or a well-planned programme for the boys who are involved in mining. But as for illegal mining foreigners, we should get rid of them”, Mr Osei Kofi said.

Speaking on Status of Water Resources in Ghana, Dr Joseph Addo Ampofo, Director of CSIR-WRI said the major challenges in water resource management in Ghana were changes in water quantity as a result of seasonal flows, pollution and water quality concerns due to improper waste disposal, land use and galamsey activities associated ecosystem degradation, water governance constraints, and climate change and climate variability effects.

He said measures like the protection of water sources, conservation and restoration of ecosystem functions, adoption of climate change adaptation measures to foster resilience to climate change in order to enhance water security and, strengthening water governance should be pursued.

He also expressed optimism about government commitment towards finding lasting solutions to the water issue but asked that actions should be expedite to speed the process of resolving the issues to ensure quality affordable water for the people all the time.

Other topics discussed at the seminar included “Status of Water Quality of River Basins in Ghana; Status of Biodiversity in Water Bodies in Ghana; Forest, Water and People; and Water and Food Security”.