Ghana Water Limited (GWL) has expressed grave concern over the growing siltation of the country’s major raw-water sources, warning that the trend is rapidly undermining water production and threatening national water security.
The state-owned utility company is calling for urgent and coordinated action among government agencies, Corporate Ghana, and local communities to protect and restore vital river systems that feed its treatment plants across the country.
According to GWL, the rapid accumulation of silt, sediment, and debris in rivers and reservoirs has reached alarming levels in recent years, significantly reducing the depth and flow of raw water available for treatment.
The company warns that without immediate interventions to protect catchment areas and desilt affected intakes, the situation could result in frequent water shortages, increased production costs, and severe stress on the national water supply system.
Addressing the media at a press conference in Accra on Monday, the Managing Director of Ghana Water Limited, Mr. Adam Mutawakilu, stated that the rate at which rivers and reservoirs are silting up has surpassed the design capacity of most treatment plants nationwide.
He noted that the phenomenon has led to frequent plant shutdowns, high operational costs, and reduced water delivery to households and industries.
“Ghana’s raw-water sources are silting up faster than our plants were built to handle,” Mr. Mutawakilu cautioned. “After heavy rains, turbidity at several major intakes now spikes to levels that make conventional treatment difficult, costly, and sometimes temporarily impossible. If we don’t act at the source, we will spend more each year to produce less water.”
He attributed the siltation problem largely to uncontrolled sand winning, illegal mining activities (galamsey), deforestation, and poor land-use practices within water catchment areas.
Mr. Mutawakilu emphasized that the fight against siltation requires a nationally coordinated response, involving strict enforcement of environmental regulations, reforestation of degraded riverbanks, and public education on sustainable land and water management practices.
GWL, he said, is ready to partner with the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, the Water Resources Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, traditional authorities, and community leaders to roll out joint initiatives aimed at safeguarding water bodies and ensuring sustainable water supply for all Ghanaians.
“The cost of inaction will be far greater than the cost of prevention,” the GWL MD stressed, calling on all stakeholders to treat water source protection as a shared national responsibility.
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