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Frederick Ekow Jonah, Ph.D. student in oceanography at the University of Cape Coast, believes that while rainfall can disrupt the turbidity of the water mbades, Galamsey is a major contributor.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Kweku Asoma Kyeremeh, on Thursday attributed the pollution of the water mbades to recent rains.
The minister said that the current state of the water mbades did not result from illegal mining activities, commonly known as galamsey.
"Today's rains may have caused some river bodies to get close to the bad state we found them in, but that's not all that bad in 2016," he added. .
But speaking of Eye-witness News Mr. Jonah said that as long as the land affected by illegal mining would not be recovered, the soil sediment would remain in the rivers forever.
"The turbidity of the rivers is the direct effect of Galamsey. Galamsey is what made the land upstream naked. Although Galamsey may not be used now, the land is bare, but soils are now likely to be drawn into the rivers. So until we reclaim these lands, until we change the land cover, which would reduce the amount of sediment that flows into the rivers during the rain, the bodies of our rivers would continue to be of this nature, "he said.
Videos and images of some water plans across the country show the degradation of water quality despite the ban on illegal mining.
This has raised questions about the effectiveness of the anti-galamsey task force's fight against Galamsey.
Pressure is also growing for the government to dissolve the Interministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, following what has been widely seen as a fight lost against illegal mining.
The latest to join the many calls for the collapse of the government agency is the Small Scale Mining Network in Africa (ASMAN).
The safe landmine advocate wants the committee to be replaced by the Multisectoral Integrated Mining Project (MMIP), which is yet to be launched.
-Citinewsroom
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