The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has launched Operation Water Shield, a far-reaching national enforcement campaign designed to safeguard Ghana’s major rivers, watersheds, and other vital water resources from the destructive impacts of illegal mining.
Unlike previous one-off raids, Operation Water Shield marks a shift to a sustained, intelligence-led strategy that targets priority river systems, especially those close to downstream communities and water-treatment facilities. The campaign, announced in a statement on Friday, September 11, 2026, will focus on heavily threatened rivers such as the Birim, Ankobra, Tano, Bia, Pra, and Offin, along with affected stretches of the Black and White Volta systems. Strategic source areas and upper catchments critical to downstream water quality will also be given priority.
NAIMOS emphasised that the operation will be carried out in partnership with relevant security and state agencies, aiming to protect river sources, deny illegal miners access to riverbanks and waterways, dismantle logistics and financial networks enabling illegal mining, and restore degraded water bodies. Sustained monitoring will be established to prevent reoccupation of cleared areas.
“Enforcement under Operation WATER SHIELD will be firm, sustained and uncompromising, within the law,” the Secretariat announced. Illegal miners operating on riverbanks and waterways should expect disruptions to their activities, with equipment such as excavators, changfan machines,
Source: Apexnewsgh.com