Illegal mining activities on water bodies, coupled with the intermittent drying up of rivers and streams, have been identified as the major causes affecting production and supply of potable water in the Western Region. The Pra River, which serves as the major source for the production of water in the region, has been taken over by galamsey operators, whose inhuman activities pose great danger to the continuous availability of potable water. Dr. Hannah Bissiw, Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing on a working visit to assess the level of water crisis in the region, admitted that, illegal mining activities posed a great challenge to the operations of the Ghana Water Company and AVRL, its partner in the supply chain. Both the Inchban and the Daboase treatment plants have the capacity to produce six million gallons of water a day to serve the twin-city but production level is low and inadequate. “These illegal activities pose problems for the treatment plants and make cost of production very high”, she added. Dr. Bissiw admitted that the current situation in the region was scary and could affect industry and even household consumption, saying that, government was making frantic efforts to ensure that water got to the citizenry. She said government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with some Chinese investors to start some expansion works on the Inchaban treatment plants. The project will see the replacement of pumps and other new equipments at the Inchaban treatment plant whiles Daboase will increase production to 22 million gallons per day. Dr. Bissiw said government was negotiating for a new treatment plant to be built at Esiama, to deliver 20 million gallons of water per day, to serve Elubo, Discove, Nkroful and Half Assin, among others. The rehabilitation and expansion of the Tarkwa and Axim Treatment Plants were also underway to enable the demand and supply gap to be bridged, she added. Source: GNA