WACAM, a nongovernmental organisation engaged in advocacy in mining communities, on Tuesday called for amendment of the Mineral and Mining Law to make it more binding and to address environmental situation in mining communities.
It noted that the current Mineral and Mining Law had numerous gaps that allowed too much flexibility in the operations of mining companies, leading to excessive exploitation of minerals; land degradation; pollution of water bodies and the maltreatment of the people living in these communities.
Speaking at the launch of a research report on the "Determination of Heavy Metals in Water Bodies in Tarkwa and Obuase Mining Areas," Mr Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, Executive Director, WACAM, called on the Government to take immediate steps to reverse the trend, saying the current environmental situation in the nations mining communities were unacceptable.
He said the degradation of the land, pollution of water bodies as well as the air in these mining communities posed serious health hazards to the people, who have been found to be experiencing various illnesses such as skin and chest diseases including Tuberculoses.
Diseases such as diarrhoea, malaria, typhoid fever, dizziness and persistent headaches were found to be prevalent in the areas of the study.
He said the findings of the research should serve as a wake-up call to the Government to act against the pollution of water bodies by mining operations and further ensure that agencies tasked with the enforcement of the Law lived up to their task and to the expectation of the people.
Mr Owusu-Koranteng explained that recent media accounts and many complaints from communities about cyanide spillages as well as the release of other hazardous chemicals including arsenic, manganese, cadmium, iron, copper, mercury, zinc and lead into water bodies from mining operations, necessitated the assessment of the levels of heavy metals in water in the study areas, which was supported by OXFAM America.
He said the research found out that most of the rivers in the mining areas of Obuasi and Tarkwa were polluted with elevated levels of these hazardous chemicals which were far above the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Ghana Environmental Protection Agency's (GEPA) permissible levels, citing examples such as in the river Nyam in Obuasi, which had arsenic concentration of 13.56 milligrams per litre (mg/L) as against 0.01 mg/L required by the WHO and 1.0 mg/L as required by the GEPA.
He said the research revealed that Asuakoo had 22.72 mg/L as against 0.4mg/L manganese concentration required under WHO permissible guideline value adding that similar high levels of these chemicals were found in all the rivers and streams tested in the study areas.
Mr Owusu-Koranteng said such exposure to elevated levels of toxic chemicals had other significant health implications such as reduced Intelligent Quotient (IQ) levels in children.
Professor Atta Biritwum, a Lecturer of the University Of Cape Coast (UCC), observed that minerals endowed in the soils of third world countries had become a curse rather than a blessing, as the processes used in their extraction left the land in very bad shape and its inhabitants poor and diseased.
He said it was unfortunate that agencies that were tasked with the watch-dog role had not lived up to the expectation of such mining communities and appealed to the Government to consider the cry of the people living in forest areas against mining in forest reserves.
Prof Biritwum opposed any idea and advocacy for mining in forest areas where the chunk of the nation's food supply came from, saying it was unacceptable and should be discouraged immediately as the signing on to such contracts would be equal to signing a death sentence for the entire nation and increase the poverty levels of the people thereby preventing Ghana from attaining the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
He said it was evident in most communities that the mining companies were operating completely outside any regulations and called on the GEPA to intensify its monitoring operations to bring the recalcitrant ones to book.