We can make Pra River clean within a month – UMaT VC

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) Professor Richard Kwasi Amankwa has disclosed that the University has the technology that can reduce the turbidity levels of the Pra River within a month.

The Vice-Chancellor gave this refreshing piece of information to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor when he visited the University as part of his two-day working tour to the Western Region.

The Pra River has been heavily polluted by the activities of illegal small-scale mining.

Sekondi-Takoradi has been undergoing water rationing for years due to the inability of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to draw raw water from the Pra River to treat and distribute.

This is owed to the fact that the turbidity levels of the river have risen to high proportion as a result of activities of illegal mining.

But Professor Richard Akwasi Amankwa told the visiting Minister that “we will be able to reduce the turbidity levels in a month”.

“…so, we need the permission of the Water Resources Commission to enter the Pra River. When we start, I want to believe that within a period of one month we should be able to reduce the turbidity levels”.

He explained: “Particles must settle on their own. But when it happens that the particles cannot settle on their own [colloidal particles] then you have to neutralize charges and force them to settle. That is what we are going to do. We are just going to introduce some ions which are environmentally friendly and they will interact with the particles that do not want to settle and force them to settle”.

He indicated that already the technology has been tested on a small river in Tarkwa and it has worked and are “ready to move to a bigger space”.