Land & Environment · Western & Ashanti Regions
When the river turns orange: mining, water and the right to health
Communities living beside galamsey sites are losing drinking water, farmland and health, with almost no route to remedy.
28 January 2026
Illegal and unregulated small-scale gold mining, known locally as galamsey, has contaminated major rivers with sediment and heavy metals. Communities that once drank and farmed from those rivers now buy sachet water they can barely afford.
The rights at stake are ordinary ones: water, health, food, property, and a healthy environment. What is missing is a practical route to remedy — the affected are rural, poor, and far from the courts in Accra.
Our documentation focuses on that gap: who was harmed, who is responsible, which agency was notified, and what happened next. If you live in an affected community, you can tell us what you are seeing.
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