Ghana: Dumase, where river water is poison

In December last year a group of women in Dumase, a community near Bogoso in the Western Regionof Ghana, blocked the road leading to the site of the mining company operating in the area, Golden Star Resources, to protest the pollution of their only source of water. The police were called in but the women refused to move. They did not leave until officials from the District Assembly came to assure them that their water tanks, which had run out of water for days, would be filled. Months on, the villagers insist they can no longer drink from their streams. As mining continues in the area with assurances that the residents would be relocated.

For many years the people of Dumase have lived peacefully. They have depended on their environment for survival and lived on subsistence agriculture. The main sources of water for domestic use have been streams and smaller water bodies. The Dumase township has long held spiritual and emotional attachments to these water bodies...some consider them sacred gifts that must be protected.

However, things changed 20 years ago when government granted licenses for large-scale mining in the area which has resulted in the loss of all local water bodies.

The main sources of water for Dumase are the Apepre stream, Beenya, and Wurawura - these are all now polluted by mining spillages.

“All our water is polluted. The water turns yellowish when you boil it,” lamented a resident.

Golden Star Resources, a multi-national mining company with operations in six other countries is the only mining firm in this area. It has been blamed for two major reported cases of cyanide spillages here since 2004. In both cases locals said when they raised alarm Golden Star Resources sought to either play down or deny that there was pollution. But the failure of mining companies to accept full responsibility for spillages is not new.

Organizations working with mining communities say local communities will continue that this denial of mining companies leads to locals continuing to use polluted water, which can result in people contracting some serious and sometimes death-threatening ailments…illness that can be avoided if mining companies were honest and about spillages.

The women of Dumase complain they still see traces of heavy metals from the operations of Golden Star in their streams. In 2004 when the first cyanide spillage was reported, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, asked the local people to stay away from their water bodies. Eight years later the company still advises the locals to stay away from these water bodies.

Public Relations Director of Golden Star Resources, Mrs. Ellaine Kwame said it is still unsafe for the people of Dumase to drink water from the streams.

“You cannot have tailings dam sitting by a stream and say that people should go and drink it. …. For the time being it is not possible to have them drink water from this source,” she said.

However she does not admit that it is the activities of the mining company that continue to pollute those water bodies.

While in Dumase I met two women who said they drank water from the Apepre stream in 2006, became sick and have been living on medication ever since.

One of them, Afia Asantewa, used water from the Apepre stream the very morning of the second cyanide spill, and she blames her current condition on the cyanide.

“I have blood pressure. Every month I go to the hospital. If I don’t get to the hospital on time then my head aches badly as if I would die. We didn’t have this kind of ailments until the water got polluted,” she complained.

SHOCKING RESEARCH FINDINGS

A recent water analysis by the Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis found high levels of heavy metals in the waters at Dumase. By the World Health Organisation’s standards the presence of Arsenic, a toxic chemical, in water should not be more than 0.01 gm/L. But some water bodies have as much as 24 mg/L of arsenic. The researchers say this can cause skin cancer, itchy skin and the black foot disease. And they fear for food crops planted in such conditions.

The research found arsenic levels in cassava in Prestea to be 30.68 milligrams per kilogramme. Compared to WHO standards which are less than 0.003 milligrams per kilogramme, this is far above the level for human consumption. Mining and environmental group, WACAM, also points out that Dumase is part of the nation’s food and fruit basket so the quality and safety of its produce should be of concern to all Ghanaians.

While in the area, some of the concerned women of Dumase take me on a long walk to see the area where Golden Star Resources has its tailing dam, an area the locals call Nankafa. We spend over an hour trekking the long windy farmland to the tailings dam where waste water from the mine is dumped.

From the dam I walk past a security post pretending I’m going to fetch water for my fellow farmers. Less than 20 metres from the security post are traces of seepages from the dam flowing right into the stream. Water seeping through the tailings dam into the Apepre stream is visibly different. The women farm in this area and they see this seepage regularly. They accuse Golden Star of polluting their water without making any effort to stop it. Instead the company tells them to stay away from their water bodies, without providing them with adequate alternatives.

“When will this company stop polluting our water?” one of them asked.

TACKLING THE PROBLEM

But Golden Star Resources is trying to deal with the situation. The company has provided four large water tanks for the town, which has a population of 4000. But the women here say the water is insufficient and it is not available regularly.

“We have four tanks in the town and only one tanker brings a single load of water to distribute to all four tanks. That’s not sufficient for the whole community. This has resulted in fights and people have hurt each other, even pregnant women get beaten. Government must save us from this trouble,” a worried woman indicated.

Some women and children have to trek long distance to get to the tanks.

Executive Director of WACAM, Daniel Owusu Koranteng, says Ghana’s mining law gives a blank check to mining companies to treat water bodies anyway they like with impunity.

“When you go into the minerals and mining Act- section 17 it allows a company, of course with some license from the water resources Commission, that they can impound, obtain and divert and do many things with water. That is close to a blank check…”

He adds that mining companies in Ghana have based their argument on this clause in the mining law to pollute water bodies in their areas. And often all you see is a sign post warning communities to stay away from local water bodies. There are dozens of these notices spread across Ghana’s mining communities.

Ghana’s Evironmental Protection Agency, the EPA, has not made any definite statement about the water quality in Dumase. But for the past three years the EPA has been rating the performances of mining companies in the country. Termed “AKOBEN” the rating has caused unease in the mining industry since its inception. It rates the performance of mining companies in seven key areas: from legal issues through the environment to corporate social responsibility.

So far, Golden Star Resources failed to impress in the two ratings released in 2009 and 2010. The 2011 result is not out yet. For both years, the company was rated RED, on compliance with environmental quality standards and toxic releases. In the words of the EPA: The company has NOT complied with the environmental quality standards for toxics.

In both years, Golden Star’s overall rating was RED, which was defined by the regulator as having not fulfilled the requirements of LI 1652, and creates risks from toxics and hazardous wastes mismanagement and discharges. This Legislative Instrument relates to the Environmental Impact Assessment.

AN EPA LAPSE?

Some civil society organisations have criticised the EPA for not taking a step further to penalize mining companies who flout these basic legal regulations, and thus exposing the environment and citizenry to poisonous chemicals. So as it is the “AKOBEN” or rating is only serving to name and shame companies that do not stick to mining standards....beyond this there is no further action.

It is worth mentioning that so far no mining company in Ghana has performed any better, according to the ratings. In 2009, out of 11 companies selected, 8 were rated red and 3 yellow. A yellow rating means satisfactory compliance. In 2010 two companies, Abosso Goldfields, a subsidiary of Goldfields, based in the Western Region, and Newmont, Kenyase in the Brong Ahafo Region scored Blue, out of 11 companies. Blue means Good. Green is Very Good, and Gold- Excellent. No company has got a Green yet...and it appears most of them are very far from Gold.

The situation in Dumase has now become dire, says Mr. Koranteng of WACAM, a fact confirmed by District Chief Executive for Prestea Huni Valley, Robert Cudjoe. He says the state of the community does not allow government to make any long-term plan for the township.

He adds that the current water supply to Dumase is not adequate.

“The Assembly would wish to get them one or two mechanized bore-holes but since very soon they will move from the place that has been our hindrance. Concerns have been raised that the water they provide is not adequate…”

And the DCE laments the precious man-hours his outfit spends attending to social concerns from mining communities. For the about 15 or so minutes that I spent in his office the DCE received at least three phone calls with mining-related issues. I had expected to hear him talk about the district’s swelling revenues from mining. But no, he rather tells me his district is not benefiting much from mining activities here. He says mining is the greatest threat to the peace in the area.

“Everyday you wake up to receive a complaint from a mining community against a mining company… almost every day there’s an issue to be resolved,” he said.

CRACKS IN BUILDING

Water is not the only concern of the people of Dumase. There is also the issue of noise from blasting and dust pollution. Mr. Dei Nkrumah, a middle-aged man showed me rocks on his compound, rocks he said were hurled into his home from the mining pit, by the force of blasting.

“We are suffering from blasting. Where my bed is (there are) lots of cracks. You see the new building there (the part that has collapsed) is due to their blasting.”

There is also the problem of dust constantly pouring into the community from the mine.

A SICK PEOPLE

Already, there are reports of rising cases of respiratory infections from places like Dumase.

The nearest major health facility is in Tarkwa. And each time a person falls sick here the patient has to make a long trip on the rough and dusty road from Dumase to Tarkwa.

The taxi on which I travelled on my first visit to Dumasi all windows closed to avoid the dust on the road; there was no air conditioner in there. And we had to cope with the heat from the blazing sun in a condition nearing suffocation.

I checked with the authorities at the Tarkwa government hospital. Dr. Jack Galley is the Municipal Health Director. Like most parts of Ghana Malaria is the leading reported case reported. But he admits the hospital staff group most fever cases as malaria, including typhoid and common cold. But of more concern to him is the rising case of dust-related diseases.

“In 2009, about seven per cent of the cases that we saw were upper respiratory infections. In 2010, it was 8 per cent. And in 2011 we saw about 11.7 per cent.”

And it appears a more serious form of acute respiratory tract infection, mostly present in mining areas, called silicosis, is also on the rise here. The chronic disease caused by long exposure to dust affects the lungs and makes breathing an uphill task.

“We have silicosis as also a problem. It is confined to mining areas or dusty environment,” he said.

The Chief of town Nana Kwabena Pong took me to the outskirts of the community, about 150 metres away. From here we could see serious mining going on…heavy equipment digging the earth and heavy-duty trucks busily hauling gold ore from the pit.

Nana told me the location of the mine is too close to the town, and government must halt the operation of the mining company here, until the fate of the people of Dumase is known.

“Before we leave here we will all get sick. Some of my people will even die…” he lamented.

For now, residents of the Dumasi can only pray for action…Action to save them from looming danger.

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