Accra: Mr. Adam Mutawakilu, the Managing Director of Ghana Water Ltd. (GWL), has called on Corporate Ghana, development partners, and government agencies to join forces with the company in a nationwide desilting initiative aimed at restoring the country’s heavily silted water treatment intakes. The appeal highlights the urgent need for financial, logistical, and material support to recover raw water sources that have been clogged, significantly reducing their capacity to supply water to treatment plants.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mr. Mutawakilu emphasized during a press conference in Accra that the scale of the siltation problem exceeds the company’s capacity to manage independently, given its operations under a regulated tariff structure by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC). He explained that the desilting of water intakes is not covered under their approved tariff, preventing the diversion of operational funds for dredging activities.
Mr. Mutawakilu urged Corporate Ghana, development partners, and government bodies to provide the necessary support to maintain water supply, especially during the dry season. Several treatment plants, including Owabi, Mampong, Kwanyako, and others, have been seriously impacted, with the company targeting to desilt all except Barekese, which requires a separate large-scale intervention.
The Managing Director disclosed that the estimated cost for desilting remaining plants is GHS 300 million, following emergency interventions last year at Owabi and Mampong, which cost GHS 64 million and GHS 13.8 million, respectively. He highlighted that siltation has become a national crisis with causes extending beyond illegal mining to include sand winning, construction, farming, and waste dumping near water bodies.
The desilting exercise is expected to restore intake depth, protect infrastructure, reduce treatment costs, and stabilize water supply to various sectors. Mr. Mutawakilu outlined GWL’s 24-month Catchment Recovery Plan, which involves riverbank stabilization, re-vegetation, targeted dredging, and collaboration with local authorities to enforce land-use regulations.
Despite implementing downstream measures and government efforts to combat illegal mining, Mr. Mutawakilu expressed that these are not permanent solutions and emphasized the need for physical desilting. He lauded government initiatives like the Blue Water Guard operations and President John Dramani Mahama’s efforts through the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat.
The Managing Director concluded by framing the appeal as an invitation for Corporate Ghana and development partners to demonstrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) responsibility, highlighting the potential for each contribution to be visible, measurable, and auditable.