Tens of thousands of residents in the Central Region have been left without clean drinking water following the shutdown of the Kwanyako Headworks of Ghana Water Limited (GWL), after heavy siltation from illegal mining upstream rendered its intake pumps inoperable.
The closure has sparked widespread concern, as affected households and businesses are now forced to depend on unsafe water sources for daily use, raising fears of a potential public health crisis.
Officials at GWL confirmed that both the old treatment plant, built in 1964 with a capacity of 14,000 cubic meters, and the newer 21,000-cubic meter plant commissioned in 2007, have been knocked out of production. The two facilities, which previously supplied over 25,000 cubic meters of water daily, have come to a complete halt.
Divers contracted to inspect the submerged pumps recommended urgent desilting and river dredging. However, engineers warn that these measures will prove futile unless illegal mining activities on the Ayensu River in the Eastern Region are tackled head-on.
“With the river this polluted, dredging alone won’t save the system,” one official at the Kwanyako Headworks told reporters.
Meanwhile, community leaders and residents have appealed for immediate government intervention, warning that the ongoing water crisis could lead to outbreaks of waterborne diseases.
The shutdown of the Kwanyako facility highlights the worsening toll of galamsey on Ghana’s critical infrastructure, as once-reliable water systems are increasingly being crippled by uncontrolled environmental destruction.
