The Bonsa Water Treatment plant, which supplies water to Bonsa and the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality of Western Region, has been shut down due to severe siltation caused by illegal mining in the Bonsa River, which is preventing water from entering its intake for treatment.
The Western and Central Regional Manager of the Ghana Water Limited, Ing. Richard Esuon, who led the Managing Director of Ghana Water Company, Adam Mutawakilu, on a tour of the polluted Bonsa River and Treatment plant, said the turbidity of the Bonsa River is now around 4,400ntu, though the treatment plant was built with a 15ntu level.
Engineer Esuon added that they had to shut down the plant for three weeks due to silt despite desilting the Bonsa river a few weeks ago.
“We have a lot of challenge with the source of the raw water, and the main thing is siltation of the dam. About two months ago the plant was shut down because there was a lot of silt and raw water wasn’t coming into the plant.
“We took the pain to dredge and remove huge tons of silt from the river. The plant worked for only three weeks only for us to see that the river has been fully occupied by silt again. For now, the plant is not treating water at all,” he stated.
