The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has launched “Operation Water Shield”, a sustained national enforcement campaign aimed at protecting Ghana’s major rivers, watersheds and other critical water resources from the devastating effects of illegal mining.
The operation represents a shift from isolated raids to a sustained enforcement strategy designed to protect priority river systems from their source areas through downstream communities and water-treatment facilities.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Operation Water Shield will focus on some of Ghana’s most threatened river systems, including the Birim, Ankobra, Tano, Bia, Pra and Offin Rivers, as well as affected sections of the Black and White Volta systems.
Strategic source areas and upper catchments will also receive priority attention because degradation in these areas has serious consequences for water quality downstream.
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The ministry said the operation would be intelligence-led and carried out in collaboration with relevant security and state agencies.
Its broader mission is to protect critical water bodies, prevent illegal miners from accessing strategic river corridors, disrupt the networks supporting illegal mining, assist investigations and prosecutions, and create the conditions necessary for environmental recovery.
Six key objectives
The ministry outlined six principal objectives for Operation Water Shield.
These include protecting strategic river source areas, denying illegal miners access to riverbanks and waterways, dismantling mining logistics networks and disrupting the criminal and financial structures that support illegal mining.
The operation will also support the restoration of degraded water bodies and establish long-term monitoring and enforcement systems to prevent illegal miners from returning to areas that have been cleared.
The government’s goal is to substantially contain illegal mining within protected watersheds, restrict the movement of heavy equipment into critical river systems, and achieve sustained improvements in water quality.
NAIMOS also seeks to disrupt the financial networks behind illegal mining while restoring effective state control over affected river basins.
The ministry warned that NAIMOS would enforce the law firmly under Operation Water Shield, cautioning illegal miners operating on water bodies and riverbanks that their activities would be disrupted.
Equipment used in illegal mining operations could be seized, permanently immobilised or otherwise dealt with in accordance with applicable laws and established procedures.
The ministry specifically identified excavators, chanfang machines, water pumps, dredging equipment and other machinery used to destroy water bodies as key targets of the enforcement campaign.
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources called on traditional authorities, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, equipment owners, local communities and the general public to support NAIMOS in successfully executing the operation.
The public has also been encouraged to provide credible information on illegal mining activities and individuals, organisations or networks that finance, facilitate or supply equipment for such activities.
The ministry said the launch of Operation Water Shield sends a clear warning that Ghana’s rivers must not be treated as mining sites or dumping grounds for wastewater from mining activities.
NAIMOS, it said, would sustain pressure on illegal miners and the networks supporting them until critical water bodies and river corridors are brought under effective protection and conditions are created for their recovery.