EPA Launches Emergency Clean-Up of Ghana’s Polluted Water Bodies
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated an emergency clean-up operation to restore Ghana’s heavily polluted water bodies, citing illegal mining (galamsey) as a major crisis affecting water quality and public health.
EPA Chief Executive Officer, Professor Nana Ama Brown Klutse, announced that the agency has already begun collecting water samples and is reviewing proposals from companies for the clean-up and rehabilitation process.
“We see this as an emergency situation to clean up our water bodies, which have been polluted by galamsey. The EPA is going to clean up our water bodies. We have been picking samples already and have proposals from different companies to rehabilitate them,” she stated.
The initiative, which has full backing from the President, is expected to cost billions of cedis and aims to improve water quality for treatment by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).
“We hope to get the water cleaner for the GWCL to continue its treatment. We want to do the first level of cleaning,” Prof. Klutse added.
Beyond water restoration, the EPA also plans to reclaim degraded lands affected by illegal mining. The agency says the process is already underway and will be expanded once full funding is secured.
Ghana has been grappling with severe water pollution due to illegal mining, which has rendered several water sources unsafe for consumption. The EPA’s intervention is expected to play a critical role in addressing this environmental crisis.
