Although Ghana’s economy generally expanded in the second quarter of 2024, the Water and Sewerage sub-sector recorded a significant contraction in the same period under review.
Latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data published by the Ghana Statistical Service reveal that the Industry sector was the main driver of the overall expansion of the economy recording a growth of 9.3 % year-on-year.
However, the Water and Sewerage subsector under the Industry sector shrank recording a contraction of 9.6%.
This sub-sector is mainly responsible for the provision of clean and safe water supply for the country in addition to wastewater management and sanitation services. The Water and Sewerage sub-sector ensures that households, businesses, and industries have access to potable water and proper sewerage systems hence playing a critical role in the public health and economic development.
The contraction of this sub-sector can be partly attributed to the menace of galamsey which has currently reached uncontrollable levels.
The indiscriminate search for gold in and around waterbodies with harmful chemicals like mercury and cyanide has led to the contamination of these source rivers. This menace has increased the turbidity levels of these rivers above the standard treatable levels leading to a reduction in the efficiency of the sector.
For instance, the Ghana Water Company Limited has on several occasions shut down its water treatment plants due to the highly contaminated nature of their source rivers. With the menace of illegal mining continuing unchecked, experts have predicted that Ghana may have to import water by the year 2030 if nothing drastic is done to address the situation.
Apart from the environmental damage, the data from the Statistical Service also shows illegal mining is negatively affecting the country’s water availability and water quality hence taking a dire toll on the water sewerage sub-sector of the economy.
