Sand mining in Adidome disrupts water treatment – GWL

The management of the Volta Regional Directorate of the Ghana Water Limited (GWL) has called for urgent intervention to stop illegal sand winning activities along the banks of the Volta River at Adidome, citing serious operational challenges and threats to public health.  

In an interview wih the Ghana News Agency, Mr. Francis Lamptey, the Volta Regional Chief Manager of GWL, outlined the dire impact of the sand winning on water quality at the Agordome Water Treatment Plant, which serves Keta, Sogakope, Anloga and several other communities across the region.  

According to Mr. Lamptey, recent heavy rains have significantly increased the turbidity levels of the raw water drawn from the Volta River.   

Unfortunately, the Agordome facility is not equipped with a coagulant dosing system or a sedimentation tank—essential infrastructure for treating highly turbid water.   

As a result, the treatment process has become ineffective, leading to consistent shutdowns of the plant.  

“Since June 13, 2025, the plant has recorded extremely high turbidity levels in treated water. Between June 15 and June 19 alone, we lost a total of 90 operational hours due to repeated shutdowns. These disruptions directly affect water supply to key areas,” Mr. Lamptey disclosed.  

The GWL has attempted to mitigate the situation by manually dosing Alum into the raw water. However, the absence of a sedimentation tank and the limited contact time before filtration have rendered this approach unsuccessful.   

Without effective treatment, the plant remains non-operational, and the water quality remains unfit for distribution.  

The utility provider is considering emergency tanker services to supply critical institutions such as hospitals and schools should the situation persist.   

However, GWL has warned that if the water quality continues to deteriorate, affected communities may resort to unsafe alternative water sources—potentially triggering outbreaks of waterborne diseases.  

“Our upstream monitoring indicates that ongoing sand winning activities at Adidome may be contributing significantly to the degraded raw water quality,” Mr. Lamprey stated.   

“We are therefore appealing to all relevant authorities to take immediate steps to halt these activities in order to safeguard the sustainability of water supply in the region.”  

The GWL is also urging a coordinated response involving local government authorities, traditional leaders, environmental agencies, and security services to address the threat posed by unregulated sand mining along the Volta River.  

“The protection of our water sources is a shared responsibility. Without swift and decisive action, the consequences for public health and regional development could be severe,” Mr. Lamptey said.  

Source: GNA   

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