{"id":47909,"date":"2025-11-29T06:29:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T06:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=47909"},"modified":"2026-07-05T17:45:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T17:45:30","slug":"65-of-ghanas-water-bodies-destroyed-declare-state-of-emergency-now-erastus-asare-donkor-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2025\/11\/29\/65-of-ghanas-water-bodies-destroyed-declare-state-of-emergency-now-erastus-asare-donkor-warns\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201c65% of Ghana\u2019s Water Bodies Destroyed \u2014 Declare State of Emergency Now\u201d \u2013 Erastus Asare Donkor Warns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Investigative journalist Erastus Asare Donkor<\/strong> has sounded a grave warning that Ghana is heading toward a full ecological collapse<\/strong> if the government does not immediately declare a State of Environmental Emergency<\/strong> to address the destruction of the country\u2019s water bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in a recent discussion on Ghana\u2019s worsening environmental crisis, the Joy News journalist revealed that more than 65% of Ghana\u2019s river systems are now polluted, heavily contaminated or completely destroyed<\/strong>, largely due to illegal mining (galamsey) and uncontrolled industrial waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t act, we will all die \u2014 the signs are clear\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Erastus did not mince words as he painted a bleak picture of Ghana\u2019s future if urgent action is not taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cSixty-five percent of our water bodies are gone. We are reaching a point where the country will not be able to produce clean drinking water. If government does not declare a state of emergency, we will all perish.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He warned that the Pra, Offin, Birim, Ankobra, Densu, and even parts of the Volta basin<\/strong> are undergoing irreversible damage, with turbidity and chemical levels rising far beyond safe limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\ud83c\udfde\ufe0f A Nation on the Brink of Water Scarcity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Environmental scientists have repeatedly warned that Ghana could face a massive national water shortage<\/strong> within the next decade:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Rural communities are already depending on sachet water<\/strong> as their only clean water source.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Treatment plants along the Pra and Oti rivers<\/strong> have been forced to shut down multiple times due to toxic levels of silt and mercury.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Some river systems are now \u201cbiologically dead,\u201d meaning aquatic life cannot survive in them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Erastus described the situation as \u201ca slow-moving national disaster<\/strong> that is no longer a rural problem, but a national survival issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udded Where Is the Leadership?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    According to him, the rate of destruction is far beyond what law enforcement can manage<\/strong>, and only a full national emergency response<\/strong> can save the remaining water bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He called for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Deployment of the military under a special environmental command<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Immediate shutdown of all illegal mining sites<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Arrest and prosecution of financiers of galamsey<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • A nationwide taskforce with powers to demolish illegal mining infrastructure<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Emergency restoration and reforestation of destroyed lands<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Erastus argued that political will<\/strong> is the missing ingredient, not capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      \ud83d\udea8 Public Reaction: Fear, Anger and Urgent Demands<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Ghanaians across social media expressed shock at the figure and echoed the call for a national emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Many citizens say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • The threat is bigger than politics<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Water pollution will soon affect cities including Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and Cape Coast<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • The collapse of water bodies will also cripple agriculture and food security<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Environmental groups, including A Rocha Ghana and WACCE, have called for immediate government action<\/strong>, warning that Ghana is running out of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n\n\n\n

        \ud83e\udded What Happens If Ghana Does Nothing?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Experts warn of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • Uncontrollable water shortages<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Massive rise in the cost of treated water<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Spread of waterborne diseases<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Collapse of fishery livelihoods<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • A national food security crisis<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Import dependence for fresh water in the future<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          \u201cOne day,\u201d Erastus warned, \u201cwe will wake up and have no safe water left.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n\n\n\n

          The Big Question<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          Will the government listen \u2014 or will Ghana wait until the last drop?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Investigative journalist Erastus Asare Donkor has sounded a grave warning that Ghana is heading toward a full ecological collapse if the government does not immediately declare a State of Environmental Emergency to address the destruction of the country\u2019s water bodies. Speaking in a recent discussion on Ghana\u2019s worsening environmental crisis, the Joy News journalist revealed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":47910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43,1],"tags":[4553,147,6975,6519,11555,9233,8440,6083,12326,8116,10505,12607,12606,8057,6496,11638,3577,5556,192,12502,2264,10321,11577,12138,8995,6030,4331,10342,9974,5572,7795,6831,5424,11167,9110,7662,9162,5655,12477,5349,11533,5630,8206,12474,11634,8869,12177,12139,1100],"class_list":["post-47909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-accra","tag-agriculture","tag-arrest","tag-cape-coast","tag-citizens","tag-collapse","tag-crisis","tag-dead","tag-decade","tag-destruction","tag-die","tag-environmental-emergency","tag-erastus-asare-donkor","tag-fear","tag-food","tag-forced","tag-future","tag-galamsey","tag-ghana","tag-ghanaians","tag-government","tag-illegal","tag-illegal-mining","tag-import","tag-infrastructure","tag-journalist","tag-kumasi","tag-law","tag-leadership","tag-military","tag-mining","tag-missing","tag-politics","tag-prosecution","tag-river","tag-sachet-water","tag-scientists","tag-security","tag-shutdown","tag-social-media","tag-state-of-emergency","tag-takoradi","tag-treatment","tag-turbidity","tag-volta","tag-water","tag-water-bodies","tag-water-security","tag-water-shortage"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47911,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47909\/revisions\/47911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}