Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources Cecilia Abena Dapaah had tasked the Water Resources Commission and the Water Research Institute to carry out a scientific probe on the extent to which the activities of illegal miners have contaminated Ghana's waters.

She also tasked the agencies to recommend the most effective approach to regaining water quality.

Preexisting studies suggest that the country may need about two decades to regain aquatic life destroyed by the activities of illegal miners who operate on the rivers.

However, in a bid to ascertain the actual contaminations and to find immediate solutions the Water and Sanitation Minister said the Water Research Institute will in the coming days provide a full report on the level of damage which will inform the most appropriate solution to deal with the matter.

Ms Dapaah said these at a news conference in Accra on Wednesday, 23 June 2021.

The Ghana Water Company has warned that if the activities of illegal miners are not brought to an immediate stop, the country will have to import drinking water in the next 10 years.

To salvage the situation, the government has deployed a security team called Operation Halt II to stop all forms of mining on rivers in the country.

As part of their mission, the team has been tasked to burn all excavators found parked near river beds either in operation or not.